Lithgow 1 mark 3 fore end

[Tonymin]

So I split my recently acquired Lithgow fore end after about 50 rounds. Yes it had the copper pads.
I ordered a replacement from a vendor. It has some red and white stripes, Indian?
It is really quite different. I could maybe make it work. But it is very different. Advice?

[glennsche]

i had the same thing happen to mine. i got a replacement from numrich and i had to sand the groove for the front band to get it to fit but it ended up looking ok and 5 years and many trips to the range later its ok.

the aussie coachwood sucks. dont feel bad.

[Enfield47]

Keep the broken fore end, someone may be willing to buy it. The replacement may not match in color and you may have to make a few minor adjustments, but you should be GTG in a relatively short order.

[Father Ted]

There used to be a guy on eBay selling new walnut forends, even those needed fitting. If the Indian one is saturated with oil it may get crumbly at the draws. Post some pics of the damaged one if you can.

[Tonymin]

There doesn't seem to be a cutout for the long bolt that holds on the stock. I am thinking I either cut a groove in the wood which would weaken it, or shorten the bolt. Is this bolt sticking into the wood to stabilize the forend?

[Eddie1965]

I did the same thing with my Aussie. The fore end cracked and I got the Indian one with the stripes. I removed the stripes and put some BLO on the patch. As for the bolt, I bought an Ishapore bolt from Numrich and that was the extent of "fitting" I had to do.

[Tonymin]

I got it done. It needed quite a bit of fitting. I used washers to space the stock bolt back. Needed to move the trigger guard opening a little forward. Took about 8 hours but it looks good.
What kinda wood is the Indian forend?

[Eddie1965]

I asked the same question about the type of wood on the Indian forends; apparently no one knows.

[Tonymin]

It doesn't look like walnut. It actually looks like fir. But hard to believe it is.

[Father Ted]

I asked the same question about the type of wood on the Indian forends; apparently no one knows.

Whatever happened to be floating down the Ganges River at the time. True story