I'm with Pixelpiper, those bolts are too far forward to have been there to hold the clamp on. If you line up a photo of the Vader ROTJ and a Luke ANH/ESB/TFA the clamps are in the same position, therefore the bolts are too far forward to have gone through it in the manner MCM depicted.
If anyone has a photo of a stunt with the clamp choked up towards the emitter end, I might change my mind...
I originally put forth the idea just as a test for anyone to try (there's still yet anyone to try it) but everyone seems to be working under the assumption that the clamp still had its tabs and were used in the conventional way. I think at this point it's safe to say nothing they did with these things was conventional.
There's plenty enough evidence out there that shows the clamps were interchangeable across a variety of things, from genuine Graflex 3-Cell tops to alu tubes cut to resemble one (the Vader ANH dueling/shared stunt depicted in @
SethS's compendium show a clamp on the body, both far up and facing away the "front" of the hilt), and even completely cobbled pieces made from Kobolds and Graflex and MPP parts, I.E. the Hamill "explodey" hand stunt. And there's also corroborating photos that show dueling stunts where there were bolts/screws that also didn't sit flush to the body of the hilt. @
thd9791 posted one of them.
The idea was put forth based on the photo evidence of a few of these converted/cobbled Graflex or Graflex-esque dueling stunts that shared similar use as the one on the V3 implies: decoration to resemble the original prop from a distance. There has yet to be a photo that's surfaced that shows the original prop the V3 clamp originally came from. The holes in the clamp, based on what other photos of other bashed dueling stunts and considering the history of the props during the production, imply that something when through them to join or keep something together. Be it the actual fencing rod or the entire assembly together (clamp included), we can't know positively. However, with the stuff we
do know from what's provided, I don't think it that far of a reach of the imagination.
...The chamfer on the hole in the WIRED Pre-V3 is probably a mold artifact. They may have even clayed it up a bit to fill the gap so that the rubber wouldn't get keyed in place on the original during molding. Or it did get keyed stuck because they did it quick and dirty and the beveled edge is the resulting artifact from tearing the mold off of the original.
This I agree with. However, if the Wired blurb that went with it is to be believed, and considering (if I recall correctly) rubber/silicone wasn't as widely used during this time, the molds were plaster. Regardless, I think you're right on this.