Little untextured model of my mesh appears when importing custom nifs into the game

So this is honestly not a big deal and I can overlook it for now, I'm just wondering if anyone else had this problem when importing custom meshes.

Basically everything else about the mesh is solid, but I have this little black version of my model sticking out of the handle of my weapon whenever I'm in 1st or 3rd person view. What could be causing this?

For extra context, Nifskope likes to point my meshes downwards whenever I import them, so I have to rotate and scale them. You guys have been awesome with the questions lately, thanks a TON for all the info over the past couple days!