1903 Grips ?

[bigduke6]

Terry,

They are very easy to make and I'm a metal man myself..... a few pics, I,ve used the original as a template on this one but in the past, I found it easier to get the right lengh first then once its a nice snug fit clamp it on the bayonet, use the holes on the bayonet as a guide to drill through or mark the wood, mark around for the shape and cut etc, I only used a a small drill size at first as I counter sunk the holes then drilled the correct size for the screw,if you need to make the counterbore deeper then its lot easier having it allready started.

[browningautorifle]

You have the most difficult thing to obtain which is the screws. The rest is just as these guys have suggested...show us when you finish, no secrets now...even if the first ones don't work out.

[Aragorn243]

I made new grips for a repro No 5 bayonet once and they have the type that the wood wraps all the way around the metal. I did mess up the first one but it was a learning curve and the next two came out pretty nice. I second getting the length/fit right first and then drilling the holes.

[boristhepig]

Thanks bigduke6 for the advice and the pictures, I have a few other jobs on the go at the moment, have never tried making grips before but will hopefully get around to trying to make them sometime in the summer. I will post some pictures of the end result
Terry

[old-smithy]

Aragon I have a couple of 03's on Ebay at the moment as well as some other rare commonwealth blades look for oldsmithytwo

[browningautorifle]

rare commonwealth blades

Guess we better go have a look at your stuff then? Never know what I can afford...

[A square 10]

those loook like someone cut and fitted a set of reproduction P1913 scales to fit to me , nice job of fitting ????

[browningautorifle]

reproduction P1913 scales

I don't think so...just a file edge.

[Flying10uk]

Peter, the L1A1 grips you mention, would the Indian wooden grips fit to the British SLR bayonet that the Indians fitted to their version of the SLR bayonet which I believe were wood???

[Peter Laidler]

It was in 1968 in Malaya for the quarter guard and a high ranking dignitary who probably didn't even know I existed!!!!! I didn't know about Indian grips then. I did get some wood Sterling grips and screws from my mate Dave Dee in Singapore but couldn't drill through the handle (I wouldn't have dared to either!") to fit the different hole configuration between L1A1 and No5. And when the RSM (I think his name was 'sir') says they've got to be done in a couple of weeks, then a couple of weeks it is! The pioneer platoon in Support Company had a small carpenters shop which did most of the cutting and slotting. I wonder where Jakey Smith and Sandy Sam are now?

Sorry to go off at a tangent again