I've had Carbines that have done that in the past and I've had many . It is just nature of the beast . What ever you do don't sand it down if it is a matching handguard / stock set ! Just buy a repro handguard from Sarco and sand and stain that . I think they still have them in stock . I bought one and they're not too bad . The edge on the groove was a little too sharp for me but I could sand it down. The Sarco handguard I believe are from the same company that does the M1icon-A1 repro stock .