All but the very early SAs were round, including HRA, and IHC , WRA were square throughout most of their production.
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WRA was reluctant to make any changes at all unless they got paid for it. When SA developed the trap door stock, there was evidently no money left in the budget to pay Winchester to change over. Ordnance therefore gave them special permission to continue with the solid butt and plate until the end of that contract. The new contract called for a trap and increased compensation to fund it.
I have some data from years ago that shows Springfield manufactured the square bolt recess up to s/n 54279 - but the round bolt recess first shows up in s/n 49928, all being revision 2 receivers. Both types were being manufactured together for a short period. Anyone have and high or low serial numbers to add to my data ?Attachment 107884
Robert,
SA 49635 has the round bolt recess.
This rifle was acquired from the CMP in March 2012 in M1D configuration.
Not my rifle. I found this info in April 2016 while surfing the Web.
So far, in my data I show SA 49635 as the earliest round recess and SA 54279 as the latest square recess.
WRA 2363963 with the round recess and WRA 2429530 with the square recess.
I keep my eye out for this change in the bolt recess and am sure this info will change as more rifles are observed or reported.
I myself have 53589 with the round recess and 53590 with the square recess - consecutive serial numbers with the earlier number having the later recess cut.