Jim and Stephen thank you both for your fine input gentlemen .
I find the standard model to be a fairly cumbersome weapon ; but perhaps that is just me .
Stephen , might I ask if the quillon on either of your examples carries this mark ; and would anyone here have any insight into its meaning ?
I would also suggest Ben Macintyre's fine book
*THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING ; The First American In Afghanistan*
for another view of the area and place in time .