The more i think about it it makes sense from a business prospective that the handle and guard have not been changed. Blade geometry could be tweaked due to the fact that you are using blanks, but if the handles were already mass produced that's a big cost to eat if you have inventory sitting. This is more than likely why we see the same Res C on multiple knives, and it saves us cost which is fine by me most of the time! Just my 2 cents....