1896 Replacement Hand Guard Fit

[Thomassen]

I received my replacement hand guard from LLC Taylor today. Am wondering about wood to metal fit. There is 1/16 gap between the front of the guard and the barrel band. Gap between the front and rear of the sight to the guard is 1/32. I've seen photos of original hand guards with a similar gap between the guard and the barrel band and some tighter. I could relieve the wood on the stock for a tighter fit, but someone tell me don't do it! The stock is an original 1899 stock. I am just looking for reasonable expectations.

[JOHN42768]

OK, Don't do it. Your original stock is worth a lot more then the replacement HG. You might want to contact them and see if all their replacements have spacing as you describe. The worst they can say is yes. John

[Dick Hosmer]

The length of the hand guard isn't really a big deal - it stands out now because of the raw wood.

But, what completely appalls me is the totally erroneous milling design around the sight cutout, including the omission of the rear bevel cut (a sloped surface larger than a dime).

I would reject that item in a heartbeat. Wonder if they ever saw a real one?

Well, scratch one more repro wood supplier off the list. WHY do they all go to the trouble and expense of tooling and advertising, and then ship something that is badly flawed?

[butlersrangers]

Thomassen: The hand-guard can be salvaged (if not returned) by removing some wood from the rear of the sight opening so that the hand-guard can be slid forward to almost make contact with the barrel band. The spring clips will keep the hand-guard in place and the slight gap at the front of the sight will be unnoticeable. Some wood should be removed from the rear of the hand-guard since the hand-guard on a Krag does not completely cover the receiver ring. The hand-guard can be reshaped behind the rear sight to give the slope Dick Hosmer referred to.

[butlersrangers]

Rear of hand-guard on receiver.

[Thomassen]

Thanks, butlersrangers for the pics (one picture = 1000 words). I haven't handled the real deal so they help. And thanks to Dick and others who posted comments. It's late. I'll take better pics tomorrow and decide if I'm going to keep it or return it. There guard does have the bevel to the rear of the sight, it just isn't 'crisp'. I just didn't want to pop $90 + shipping to S and S. As we say in Norwegian, 'Sov godt' (sleep well).

[madsenshooter]

He doesn't like to take them back, but will. I purchased one of his for the 1901 sight. Somehow the sight slot got cut off center. The handguard looked fine, until you put the sight on. It would force the handguard to rotate left, leaving a large space between handguard and stock on the right. We argued about the fit for awhile, I felt I'd have to remove too much to correct the problem, he felt it fit, probably didn't try it with the sight installed. But, he did give me my money back, wouldn't replace it, and won't sell to me again.

[Thomassen]

Butlersrangers, The hand guard in your pictures looks to have a tight wood to metal fit. Is that true? I am going to have to straighten the line at the rear of the sight opening which will give me a 1/16 inch gap here. Is there a gap between your sight and the guard?

[butlersrangers]

Thomassen: I could only supply pictures of other people's Krags with the 1896 Sight and Hand-guard. None of my Krags have the 1896 Hand-guard. The original Hand-guards, from my experience, have sight openings that closely fit around the sight. If you need to clean up the line at the rear of your Hand-guard's sight opening and this creates a small gap, the gap will disappear if you slide the Hand-guard forward, also closing the gap between the Hand-guard tip and the Barrel-band. I don't think a slight gap between the front of the sight and the Hand-guard opening will be very noticeable. Just make sure the clearance cuts in your Stock, for the springs riveted to the Hand-guard, allow this forward movement. Also notice, the rear of the Hand-guard allows some of the receiver ring to show.

[Thomassen]

Here are a few more pictures. The guard did slide up to the barrel band. This opens a gap of 1/16 inch between the front of the sight and the guard (see pics). The right side of the sight opening gaps, too. I don't know if I'm being anal here. I've made a Pennsylvania Longrifle in the past and wood to metal fit is important. Feedback is appreciated. One or two pics are a little,but show what I'm talking about.

Best Regards.

Thomassen