Originally Posted by
bob seijas
You really can't say when it was assembled with any precision. There was always a LARGE dispersion of serials in the assembly process at all times, and NO attention was paid to serial order in putting rifles together. In addition, a lot of rifles were recycled for deficiencies and skipped machining operations like no grooves cut for elevation, clip latch cut too narrow, etc., etc. Others were set aside for a contingency reserve and then used much later, like the time the SA steel order was cancelled by mistake and the whole reserve of older receivers was used up. Serial tables will only give you a theoretical date to use as a guide. Barrel date helps, but even that can be three months off. On the other hand (and for the same reasons) nobody can say it WASN'T built on the date shown in the serial tables. Be happy with a good guess.