Knight's Armament Vertical Forward Pistol Grip (KM-97098)

The Knight's Armament Vertical Forward Pistol Grip, part KM-97098, is the foregrip that defined the SOPMOD Block 1 era. Issued alongside the RAS-equipped M4A1 and the MK18 Mod 0, this is the broom-handle "broomstick" VFG seen on early-2000s special operations carbines, and it remains the single most period-correct grip for a Block 1 clone build. Knight's Armament still produces it, so cloners no longer have to hunt the used market for the iconic profile.

The grip clamps to any MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail using a captive thumb-screw, mounting to a KAC RAS forend or any Picatinny handguard with no tools. The polymer body runs a straight, near-vertical profile that fills the hand for a traditional 90-degree foregrip hold rather than the angled C-clamp geometry of a Magpul AFG-2 or the forward-swept BCM Gunfighter Mod 3. That straight grip is exactly what makes it correct for a clone; shooters chasing modern thumb-over-bore ergonomics will prefer an angled grip, but anyone building to a Block 1 or MK18 reference wants this shape.

KAC ships the KM-97098 in Black, OD Green, and Taupe to match the FDE and ranger-green furniture common on clone builds. Build quality is what you expect from Knight's Armament, the same company behind the RAS, the M4 QD suppressor system, and the SR-15 and SR-25 rifles. At a street price around $95 it costs three to five times a commodity polymer VFG, and you are paying for the name and the exact silhouette rather than a functional edge over a $19 grip. For a clone build, that silhouette is the entire point.