Survey of Purchased 1903 upper handguards

[Midmichigun]

Guys,
I managed to purchase a "few" 1903 handguards.

Keep in mind, I am looking to restore my 1903 Springfield with SN: 1203552. This has been judged to be a 1920 receiver. However, the jist of this post, is to simply post a few variations for you all to look over, and comment on.

In time, I will order these, for a good photo op.... but for now, I just need clarifications on what they are!

Photo 1. Handguards with NO cut outs. The sight relief I judge to of a medium length.

Photo 2. Large cut out, but not oval or circular.

Photo 3. Large circular cut out.

Photo 4. Two different styles of cut out. Bottom is "small" and top is "large" as in photo 3.

Photo 5. I have found two of these so far. They have a number stamped on the handguard: D28179.
By far, the one with the most character found?

Picture 6. Under the grease, I have found at least 2 repairs on this upper! Interesting that so much time was spent to repair an item so easily damaged... and often replaced!
I would appreciate comments and input on what years these appear to be from. I do have one marked with an "R" and will post when I dig it back out.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Kirk]

The repaired hand guard looks to be Greek. The used a "biscuit" repair on their stocks & hand guards. I have one 03A3 hand guard with no less than 11 such repairs.

[Rick the Librarian]

Picture #2 is of a WWII replacement handguard; #5 (with the D28179) dates to the mid- to late 1930s.

[Promo]

Holy haystack did you rob an arsenal to get that pile of handguards?

[Midmichigun]

Promo!
Yep! I love the smell of cosmoline in the morning!
I am continually perplexed at the variety of handguards (contours, cuts, lengths, widths....) that were used over the years. Also internet pictures on ebay/ gunbroker are difficult to make out sometimes. Therefore I decided to actually get a stack, and manually "touch, feel and taste" different varieties. That way I have first hand knowledge on what they look like.
They will also provide me with lotsa firewood.... or some nice future parts!

[RCS]

This handguard is without the clips, the groove may have been added ? at an early date, note the small S stamp

[Mike D]

No. 1 looks like it has been sanded. Hard to tell from the angle. Do you have any handguards with the "fixturing slot" that are NOT "high-hump"?

[Chuckindenver]

if your going to peddle some, im looking for a couple with nice figure, to match a tiger stripe stock sets i have..