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No 4 Handguard Repurpose

Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Enfields
Forum Name: Enfield Rifles
Forum Description: Anything that has to do with the great Enfield rifles!
URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=14215
Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 6:30pm
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Topic: No 4 Handguard Repurpose
Posted By: Doco Overboard
Subject: No 4 Handguard Repurpose
Date Posted: October 30 2025 at 2:35pm
I need a HG for a Krag rifle I re-barreled. Because of the cost and difficulty finding one, I decided to use a beat up no 4 example to make a facsimile that can be worked over into one. 
The width is, or nearly identical for the Krag stock and there is plenty of material to work with to bring to final shape.
I want to fit some spring steel I have for the hand-guard clips, but need to locate some tiny brass rivets to attach them. 
All I could find are the copper ones. Otherwise, I might just anneal some nails trim them down and fixture the pieces together. Hopefully when I do that, the work I already accomplished doesn't become destroyed. Anyway, never throw things away that you can make into something else if you have to is my point for all of this. 





Replies:
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: October 30 2025 at 2:56pm
Sweet.
I wonder if you could fabricate a "match style" one piece without the rear sight openings for an SMLE?
maybe some kind of splice of a pair of No4 handguards?


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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: Doco Overboard
Date Posted: October 30 2025 at 3:43pm
Originally posted by Shamu Shamu wrote:

Sweet.
I wonder if you could fabricate a "match style" one piece without the rear sight openings for an SMLE?
maybe some kind of splice of a pair of No4 handguards?
You know, somewhere I saw one of those (repo) and didnt do anything about it but should have. Some of these guys with real wood working skills and some of the right shop equipment, could nearly make anything I think.
Right now, somehow I wonder if I could do anything after attaching 17 of the same pictures to a single post! Whew!




Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: October 30 2025 at 5:26pm
that would be a nifty project , i dont have the tools or the skills 


Posted By: Doco Overboard
Date Posted: November 07 2025 at 2:28pm
Bringing it to shape. Not going too awful bad so far. Getting there little by little.


Posted By: paddyofurniture
Date Posted: November 07 2025 at 3:53pm
You are a master of wood working.


Posted By: Canuck
Date Posted: November 07 2025 at 6:13pm
Hey, nice work!

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually


Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: November 07 2025 at 6:58pm
looks very nice to me , i know how hard KJ parts are tp find these days - i had a 92 , 92-96 , 96 , 98 and a 99 when i had my US Collection , 


Posted By: Doco Overboard
Date Posted: November 15 2025 at 1:00pm
Finally finished this one off less some drying time. Couple things learned here. 
It's probably a good idea to fashion a mandrel for peening the rivets. Something like a scrap barrel or a piece of pipe for better accuracy. Otherwise an errant strike could wreck things rather quickly.

 Use a good stock sealer prior to applying any oil to avoid so many applications.

 Locate better material for making the actual band springs. I used heavy gauge pallet strapping which works, but is not completely ideal. The primary reason is, you want to be able to spot detent where the rivets are squashed, so they don't protrude too much where they meet the barrel. They will need excess material removed to work correctly.

 And, its kind of fiddly when fitting out because of how thin it is. Once you get it, it will however work as long as it becomes drawn up tightly enough to the bottom of the hand guard to be loose and no wiggle once married up to the stock. Luckily, the in-letting for the band spring is very shallow which allows a certain purchase to be available for avoiding unnecessary slop.

To make an actual replica HG, is hard to do for this rifle system because of how thin and delicate they actually are. This one, is a tad heavy because I didn't have the fortitude to make it as thin as it should actually be for the first attempt.



Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: November 15 2025 at 1:10pm
I wonder might a Ruger 10-22 one fit in a pinch?

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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)



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