The direction of lanyard ring on Broomhandle?
 

One modification Mauser made on postwar Broomhandle was turning the direction of lanyard ring by 90 degrees. Was this modification meaningless?

I have not visited range for quite long time, until recently. The plan was to test fire my newly acquired S&W Model 10. It worked perfectly, no surprise there. Also fired 40 rounds from a prewar Broomhandle with stock attached. While trying to attach the stock to the gun, the lanyard ring blocked between the grip and stock's attaching iron (see picture). I tried to detach the half-attached stock, and found that's not easy because the tension force among the ring, the gun, and the stock. At the end, I was able to detach the stock, but that took me some effort.

I am not a frequent shooter. When I met this problem, many users must have experienced it in the past. If the lanyard ring on this gun could be turned 90 degrees, the problem should never happen. This never happens on postwar Broomhandles.

Could Mauser turn the lanyard ring in postwar era because of this?

It appears that you have a 'split' lanyard ring...I have seen these on Mausers quite frequently...Less frequently, I see solid lanyard rings...

I wonder - Does anyone know if the split ring is a Mauser item, or if most uses with no ring just put a keyring on it...

I have two Broomhandles; one with longitudinal ring mount; one with perpendicular mount...Both have split lanyard rings [keyrings]...

Sounds like an excellent reason to do so!

Old style no problem, if ring is rotated forward rather than aft. TH

Very interesting (and feasible) theory, indeed!
Douglas.