Strange stamp on barrel.

[Tuna]

Guy's I just got an M1 on GB. It's an SA in the 1.1 million range and when I went to look for a barrel date, all if found was 1-S-A-1-4. A P and a punch mark a little bit up the barrel and a 3 towards the chamber. There are no other markings and no drawing number. Anyone have an ideas? I have seen quite a few M1 barrels in the past but none like this one.

[Tudorp]

that is a weird one, but does look to be a Springfield Armory replacement I would guess..?

[Rick B]

Heat lot number will tell you better. Rick B

[M1Riflenut]

Pull the top handguard and see what the barrel revision number is. That can help narrow down the time frame. I've seen and owned many barrels with messed up date stampings. They rejected barrels for a number of reasons, bad stampings was not one of them. It's not uncommon to see numbers missing, sideways, half a number due to broken stamp, double stamps etc.

[Tuna]

Ok I took off the rear hand guard and on top of the barrel is J35443 - 16 R 103. I assume this is what you were asking for?

[M1Riflenut]

Ok I took off the rear hand guard and on top of the barrel is J35443 - 16 R 103. I assume this is what you were asking for?

That would be D35448-16 R 103. That is the correct revision for a barrel in the 10-42 to 1-43 range. Your barrel date of 1-S-A-1-4 is just missing the 3 at the end. Look close with a mag glass to see if there might be a piece of it there.

[Tudorp]

Good point. Keep in mind when these were in arsenals during the period, they were being cranked out and put back in the field by the droves, and sloppy stampings are pretty common. Perfect stampings in many cases raises flags with me. I have seen some with missaligned stamps, some numbers barely visible or light strikes etc. They didn't concentrate on perfection during war, they were simply concentrating on getting rifles back in action, so QA was spotty at best. odds are that last digit is very light, and there, or at least partially there.

[Tuna]

Tudorp, I looked again with a magnifying glass and there is nothing after the last number. I am guessing it's just a real poor stamping on the barrel missing the 3. But it does match the receiver as it was made in January 1943 too so I would guess the barrel is original to the receiver. Wear seems to match the same on the receiver and the barrel so they have been together for a long time. But there are other parts that have been changed like the trigger housing and internals. Thank you all for your information.

[Tudorp]

it may have been a very light strike, and if at some point the barrel was buffed, it could have buffed a light strike out? Just a guess, but it could happen.