Rock Island barrel marking ?

[umwminer]

I have an old Rock Island low sn (234434) "sporter". Looks like a piece that Townsend Whalen could have packed around . I am aware of the heat treat controversy .
Anyways , the bbl is marked , in the usual place with RIA above the flaming bomb and the date 6-13 below the bomb. My question concerns a marking on the oppsite side of the bbl (bottom) below the front sight band . It is stamped C 95 above the letter P .

Could one of you fellas please enlighten me as to the meaning ?
Thanks
Bob

[Rick the Librarian]

That is the steel lot code. It was stamped on the barrel to the ordnance department could keep track of who had supplied the steel for the barrels. It is stamped in that place only on RIA barrels; on Springfield M1903s, the code is usually hidden under the stock on the side of the barrels.

[azimuth]

Wouldn't 234434 be considered a high serial # on a RIA receiver?

[chuckindenver]

285,000

[Rick the Librarian]

285,507, to be picky about it!

I'd be curious if there is an "NRA" stamp on the trigger guard forward tang. A lot of rifles in this range were sold to civilians and military. RIA shut down production in 1913 and about the 236,000 range, picking it up again for WWI in 1917.

[umwminer]

Thanks for the reply and info Rick . I'll look for the NRA mark. Thanks again.

[Fred]

285,507, to be picky about it!

And to be even Pickyer about it, there were about 5,000 low number Rock Island Arsenal receivers within a specific range that had been double heat treated earlier for testing purposes that were left over after the testing was done. Many more had been used up. These approximate 5,000 were used to build rifles whose barrels can be found with mid 1918 dates on them. If one is lucky enough to find an unmolested example of such a rifle, it can be identified as such by certain features. If such a rifle has gone through a rebuild, only testing could indicate it for sure.
Frustrating isn't it!
Below is an example of such a receiver on an unmolested rifle...
I didn't know what it was until John Beard identified it for me.

[umwminer]

Took a good look at the trigger guard and also forward of the trigger under the floor plate . No visible NRA mark.

[Rick the Librarian]

Did you look here? See picture.