What exactly do I have here?

Hello all, was wondering if I could get your help on figuring out if this handguard with the band having a groove in the middle of it is of any significance. Seems like I remember seeing those listed as more expensive than your regular upper handguard band. I recently purchased a lot and these two upper handguards were in it. One with a regular band and one with a grooved band. I have to say, the one with the grooved band certainly looks better finished and more beautiful than the other one but I'm no expert haha. it just seems like The finish on it is original and not messed with.Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance

Both Springfield and Winchester used the milled with groove rear hand guard band from the start of production. Springfield replaced the milled rear hand guard band by 1943 with the common stamped band. Early rear hand guard bands manufactured by Springfield actually had a drawing number on the underside. Some early variations did not have the holesAttachment 137079Attachment 137080

Thanks RCS! This one has the holes but I cannot tell if it has the numbers or not since it's mounted on the hand guard and I'd be afraid to try taking it off in fear of cracking the wood.

the rear hand guard clips with either the drawing number on the underside or without holes are quite rare to find. It not worth the
effort to attempt to remove it. There is a special tool used but even then, this could be a delicate job as you do not want to damage
the wood.

There has always been uncertainty as to whether the groove was simply a "beauty cut" or part of the early attempts to reduce the weight of the rifle. The original Ordnance specs called for the same weight as the '03, and the .276 Garand made it. However, when the rifle was scaled up to .30 the weight shot up, and SA tried to cut it down ounce by ounce. Here's the Model Shop lower band.
Attachment 137084

Thanks Bob! My vote would be they did it to reduce weight