The early production CETME-L (and CETME-LC) rifles used a thin, fragile, full-length handguard. It was redesigned fairly early in production with a much more durable version that provided better hand insulation. The Spanish Army updated all of its rifles to use the new pattern, but the Guardia Civil retained some of its early style ones. Here in the US, only 200 of the early pattern were imported along with the tens of thousands of parts kits. They make an interesting item for the dedicated collector, but are not are practical for real use as the improved model (I mean, it was improved for good reason…)
Thanks to BrowncoatNerd for sending me this one!
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrowncoatNerd/
Well, I can tell you that 300 sets of ‘new old stock’ 1st Pattern handguards were imported into the USA back in 2019. How do I know? I sold them to the importer