[Jim K]

FWIW, the repro monopod I got from Gun Parts Corp. looked so little like the original that I never put it on, feeling it would detract from the value of the rifle.

Apparently, the monopod was another one of those neat ideas that the troops failed to appreciate, and it went by the wayside (often literally). Since most of the later rifles with the monopod type band were actually issued without the monopod, it's absence does not make the gun "incorrect."

Jim