Handguard fitment question. Noticed something a bit off.

[CINDERS]

Any military rifle was designed to A) eliminate the enemy to keep its owner alive B) be robust, reliable & functional anything else is superfluous.
At the time of manufacture it was not considered that 70+ years on collect-ability be a high priority and providing the major components fitted and functioned as designed then that was good enough for the US Govt or the MoD.