Peter, ? on split No.1 handguards and forestocks

[breakeyp]

How common and how often did you see split lengthwise and or broken legs on handguards. or split lengthwise forestocks on No.1 rifles? I presume split handguards were less of a problem for the No.4.

I have been considering "1929 Textbook of Small Arms" comments regarding grenade firing. The book states that grenade firing puts a load on the rifle equivalent to dropping it 16 feet. Given a 9 lb. rifle, that puts a load on the rifle to 144 ftlb or when dropped one foot, the rifle sees 144lbs. Effects of rifle drill were not covered and may be worse.

Movement of the barrel & receiver vs. wood forestock centers around the thin web of wood located between the receiver boss that accepts the front triggerguard screw and at the back of the forestock. So it makes sense that the No. 1 forestock had the small brass transverse screw and insert plate at the rear of the forestock to limit stock splitting. The No.4 has the wrap around metal plate to so the same thing. Wire wrapping between the rear sight and receiver would seem to help as well.

Having fixed the rear problem, the load trasfers up to the area of the forestock in front of the receiver boss and splits occur there as well. I have seen a number of these failures. This also explains the "Indian" transvers screw intended to fix the sides of the forestock together--preventing splitting. Wire wrapping would seem to help here as well.

With all this movement going on---what is the effect on handguards? Is the No.1 handguard legs splitting off due to straight recoil or a twisting moment during recoil Does the front handguard split as it is driven against the rear sight base? Wire wrapping would seem to limit handguard travel. Were troops allowed to remove the handguards for cleaning? If so, then I can see where the damage comes from.

Thank you for your comments

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