Jeez; that hand guard is a monster! Kill it before it multiplies!

Charlie, there are fixes for all those problems you mentioned. It's okay to have a very slight fore and aft movement of the HG, 1/32" or less. There's a lot of fitting on the front end of a carbine. The band should be vertical when tight and snug against the shoulder of the stock, at the same time the head of the band spring is tight against the back of the notch in the band. At this point the hand guard should be held fairly tight. Also, the recoil plate and receiver tang should be adjusted so that when the action is bumped into place after hanging it on the recoil plate, the barrel should settle and stop slightly above the stock barrel channel so the barrel band will slide onto the nose of the stock without raising or lowering the barrel. When you have this set-up, you have a well-fitted carbine.