Prior to Picatinny rails being adopted there were at least four major systems introduced by different manufacturers. H&K had the most common rail after the Picatinny and the Mark23 SOCOM Pistol carries a proprietary example of that rail.
I remember when the 10th adopted a "rail" for designated marksmen. At this time (1996), the Marines were using M14 Conversions but the Army used M16A2 rifles fitted with the then-new ACOGs as DMRs. The "rail" in question was inserted over the A2's carrying handle (forming a "tube" to allow the use of the iron sights) and secured by a bolt through a hole in the carrying handle (through a hole originally put into all A1s/A2s carrying handles to secure scope bases). There were MAJOR issues with this piece of rail/scope base for the ACOG. The first was the ACOG's short 1.5" eye relief. This required you to smash your nose against the charging handle to use the ACOG. The second issue was the security of the mount. With a single bolt holding it, it could allow the scopes to fall out of adjustment. The bolt also BLOCKED the shooter's view of the front sight from the rear sight, rendering the iron sights USELESS. It was also interesting to see the "field-expedient" methods of putting some form of cheek/stock riser on the A2's stock to raise the shooter's eye high enough to use the ACOG. A lot of duct tape and foam was employed here. All of these issues eventually resulted in "Flat Top" AR15/M16 platforms.
I think that rails would flow into the war zone until the Exchange. A person being equipped with a rail would require a Scarce Scrounging roll in my game.
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