Wood furniture solid wood and laminated date of use

[nzl1a1collector]

Australia started production of the laminated handguards in 1967, originally using British supplied metal pieces fitted to Australian made laminates. Once Australia has set up production they made their own metal pieces fitted to the laminates. The original laminated handguard design came from the British, but the metal pieces originated from FN, used on their Glass Fiber reinforced Black/Brown/Grey/Charcoal/Green etc coloured handguards.

The established view has been there are two versions of Australian Laminated Handguards Mark 1 and Mark 2. The difference being the use of flat rivets (Mk. 1) and then hollow rivets (Mk. 2)

In fact there are three:-
Version 1 (Using British metal fittings with Australian Laminates and flat rivets marked BS67)
Version 2 (Using Australian metal fittings with Australian Laminates and flat rivets marked BS68 or BS69)
Version 3 (Using Australian metal fittings with Australian Laminates and hollow rivets marked BS69, MA70 - MA90)

Australia used wood handguards between 1959 - 1967 (marked SLAZ59 - MA67). The green plastic carrying handles were introduced onto factory produced rifles in 1965.