I bought these two 1903 handguards cheap. They were cracked and repaired at some point. The repairs are pretty uniform and look like "wafers" inserted across the crack. Was it really worth the effort to repair these considering the time involved in the repair? It was probably the same amount of time to make a new hand guard. I actually kind of like the look. Anyone can get a new old stock hand guard but these tell a story.
I agree with you- Those will look great with the right (well used) stock. I have a P14 Enfield with the same kind of repairs and "been there" look. I'm curious about what country(s) made these repairs also.
I dig these too. Very neat look.
I’ve read they were Greek repairs.
Sometimes it isn't a matter of getting a new handguard as it was you have the damaged one and there isn't any new stock/large quantity of new stock. This is especially true if your in a large scale war or the equipment isn't produced by your nation. I have seen these types of repairs on my Bulgarian M95 rifles, and on some Italian Carcanos. Definitely a art to it.
These were usually done by foreign users like the Greeks or British - it wasn't U.S. policy to repair handguards - they'd just throw the old one away and grab another.
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
--George Orwell
Certainly looks like a repair any competent woodworker could easily make. When you don't have a store full of spares you make do.
Reminds me of the handguard that came on a well-used 1918-vintage SA I picked up years ago. I swapped out the patched HG for a similarly-seasoned high-hump, but I still have the patched one somewhere.
One of the experts on the British side of the forum explained why this level of repair was taught to REME armorers back in the day. They weren't expecting something like having to patch together weapons while under siege or anything like that...they were thinking of some armorer stuck in a backwater outpost of the Empire, where getting anything was a challenge even in the best of times.
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