Black Wood Furniture and CAI metric receiver

[Cossack]

I just bought a Century L1A1 thumbhole sporter that I intend to restore to a normal creature with wood stocks. It appears to be Aussie, at least the parts that I can identify (the lower receiver has an "AD . . ." serial number).

It has a wood carry handle and laminate handguards, both of which are painted black. It looks like it may have been painted before the parts were originally assembled (for example, the wood laminate handguards with the metal that's fitted to it.) Could this be their original military configuration, or was it more likely done by Century? I want natural wood finish, but if this could be original, then I'll probably save them as they are and get other wood to put on. If not, then I'll sand the black off.

While I'm at it - The rifle is built on a metric receiver with a Widow's peak feed ramp. It does not have any indication I can find of where the receiver was built. I'd like to know if it will count as a US built part for compliance purposes. Any way to tell? I can find no markings other than "L1A1 Sporter Cal .308 CAI - St Alb Vt," and a serial - "109XXX."

Thanks!

[denny]

If the markings are cast in the pannel on the right hand side of the mag well - It's a century.
As to the hand guards - Century painted them black - use a stripper - don"t sand the paint off. The metal tips were a painted black on originals.
Before you do anything check some of the threads and look at the photos and read.
Thanks D.

[MAINER]

Your receiver is probably not US made. Century built these rifles on Imbel (Brazil) or Argy (Argentina) receivers mostly.

Excellent receivers, but no help in the compliant part count.

[embatp]

i have one exactly like that...for compliance i did us wood furniture, us h/t/s, us gas piston...

i also am gonna put a us charging handle, flash hider and mag baseplate so i can use a set of original black plastic furniture as well....

[Abominog]

Century painted the Israeli wood black, but I haven't seen a L1A1 wood painted black from the "factory" so would guess somebody else did it.

[dirtyrice]

Century coated laminate wood handguards black to make them match the rest of the maranyl british kits. Dunno wtf they did with the original handguards? I still have the pair that came with my century.

[tophatjones]

Does anyone know the story behind the Century handguards that are black, kind of beefy, and has four vent slots (vs the typical three)?

[Falfegnügen]

Originally posted by MAINER
Your receiver is probably not US made. Century built these rifles on Imbel (Brazil) or Argy (Argentina) receivers mostly. Excellent receivers, but no help in the compliant part count.

Century also built, and still build, on thier own US-made receiver, which does count as a compliance part. As Denny said, if it has the markings cast into the side of the right front mag well, it's US made. Do a search, you will find plenty of pictures. Thier own receiver is easy to ID.

Edit - the one US made CAI receiver I just looked at says "R1A1 Sporter". I'm not expert on Century recievers.