Researching while I was restoring an O3A3 and I found that handguards were frequently broken and replaced. This resulted in the handguards being of a different finish than the rest of the stock. This was born out when I found many replacement handguards still available. Apparently the military ordered a large number and had them on standby for replacing the broken ones.. So hand guards of a different finish than the rest of the stock is very common.
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