firstly, were all No4 T's originally fitted with a grooved handguard?
secondly, how do you tell an original hand guard from a later "conversion".
what sort of wood should a late '44 BSA Shirley have had?
thanks.
henry.
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firstly, were all No4 T's originally fitted with a grooved handguard?
secondly, how do you tell an original hand guard from a later "conversion".
what sort of wood should a late '44 BSA Shirley have had?
thanks.
henry.
Grooved or plain is fine. Generally walnut on '44 or later (T)s. If it's been FTR'ed or similar, than any type wood is acceptable. Early rifles are not so uniform, but they also probably saw much more field use! Usual QM thinking, I reckon. Issue the "tired" stuff first.
JM is dead right but I'll let you into a secret. In any unit or workshop in the world, then the correct handguard, butt, fore-end, trigger guard etc etc etc is the NEXT one on the shelf in the Armourers shop. If it needs a bit of hand or selective fitting, fettling or colour matching after a fashion, then that's what happens
Remember the grooves (dropped as a manufacturing expedient) were there as an aid to bayonet fighting which hopefully the user of No.4T would not need to resort to.
Original handguards as fitted at BSA and at H&H will have the rifle serial number in pencil on the inside in the barrel channel. Both types of handguards were used.
From memory as I have not had my Shirley apart for as while there was a penciled 3 on each part which I ensured does not get erased when I BLO the furniture (The statement about Shirley T sure does not sound right?)
My 1945 Shirley built T is not grooved
I think most if not all 1944 and 1945 production were smooth from the factory but that doesn't mean a grooved one wouldn't slip into production as they used what was on hand.
thanks gentlemen. the level of knowledge here never ceases to amaze.
i think my fakie will get a grooved hand guard as i love the way they look. good thing i'm not in a hurry, finding a good late '44 shirley receiver, to match my scope, might take some time over here.
was there a standard for cutting the grooves?
i couldn't see it in the knowledge library article.
aka were the grooves all the same length?
were they cut with the bottom face in the same plane as the bottom of the hand guard or were they a V where the centre line of the V is at right angles to the face?
I have posted some photos of the woodwork on a 1944 BSA No. 4 MK. I (T) on my website http://www.captainstevens.com
http://captainstevens.com/military/w...i-t-furniture/