[QUOTE=Peter Laidlericon;371024]It makes youi wonder why there was a need for a top nosecap band. After all, nothing changed at that end. The stresses and strains remained the same. Bayonet fixings, cup discharger loadings were the same. Top handguard fittings the same....., under the nosecap at one end, lower band at the other. Indeed, except for a few internal odds and sods, so was the fore-end - to the extent that the conversion even used the original fore-ends albeit slightly modified.

Peter, this was my original thought when first seeing the rifle. Not being well versed in .303 rifles, I originally thought there was a mismatch of woods as there was a provision for a band that seemed to contradict the nose cap that was so familiar with later rifle versions. Skennertonicon provided the word description but yet to see an actual band and how it fitted.