My 2nd Krag

[Parashooter]

Didn't save an interior photo, but here's the outside of a handguard I made from scratch a few years ago. The clips were easily fabricated from steel packing bands, riveted with cut-down common nails. Wasn't terribly difficult and it held securely.



To expand the small end of the mild steel cut-down nail inside the handguard I fixed a flat-ended punch with nearly the same diameter as the (outside) nail head upright in a bench vise and used this as an anvil, holding the handguard (with nail and clip in place) so the punch-anvil supported the nail head and then peened the small/inside end of the nail with another punch. If you enlist a third hand to hold handguard or operate hammer and punch, it's likely easier - but I managed with just two hands by going slow and ensuring the punch-anvil was in the right position before each tap of the hammer on the inside punch. (Drilling the hole in the clip for a close fit to the nail/rivet shank ensures it won't take much peening to hold well.) Here's a rough sketch -

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