Quote Originally Posted by Steve1973 View Post
Maybe the cutter wanted to keep the handguard/rear band after sporterizing it so he left a little wood in front of it to add stability and keep the rear band on a little better. Sure, after the first shot the rear band/handguard would fly off from the recoil, but maybe that was the mindset with the cut pictured.
Nope! Notice in the pic of the whole rifle, it looks like the band has been drilled and screwed to the forestock to prevent it from flying off (also hurts the restoration-ability of the gun.