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1903 Unertl Sniper handguards

Miller Machines

Private
Minuteman
Nov 7, 2023
4
22
Wadsworth, OH
Got my new cutter and built a fixture to hold these and to cut them, doing my best to replicate the chatter marks on the originals. I think the turned out pretty nice. Practiced on a mix of used and NOS ones. Last photo is one I found online that I used as a model.
 

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I think I found an old 1.5" 6-flute HSS end mill for mine. The bottom of it was chipped to hell and it was about to get scrapped. Holding by the "thin" forward part of the handguard in a vise gave a bit of chatter and plenty of scary noises :ROFLMAO:
 
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Very timely for me. I recently bought a SA rack grade 03 in Anniston to make a replica. I bought the worst one they had. The muzzle.gaged "3" and the throat a "6", so I don't feel bad about doing a conversion. Test fired it at the range and so far it's the worst $700 I've ever spent 😉.

@jthor that's gorgeous!
 
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Very timely for me. I recently bought a SA rack grade 03 in Anniston to make a replica. I bought the worst one they had. The muzzle.gaged "3" and the throat a "6", so I don't feel bad about doing a conversion. Test fired it at the range and so far it's the worst $700 I've ever spent 😉.

@jthor that's gorgeous!
Sounds like a good candidate. I just finished these two for customers.
 

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Here's my base to start with. Stock is in decent shape but wrong type. SN122####
Looks like a Minelli C stock and a Gen 2 Hi Lux are next. Once sourced, I plan to ship it to the CMP custom shop for the rest.
I was just in Anniston for the M1 Advanced Maintenance Course where you build your own Garand. Part of the course was a tour of the CMP facilities. A Custom Shop customer had an absolutely gorgeous tiger striped "C" stock for a 1903 build. No pics allowed in there, though.

I hope to do a write up soon on the AMC class.
 
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