Maybe it's my eyes Jim but the OP rifle looks blue to me, not black. The minty and correctly serial numbered forend is another indicator of an original rifle. It's in the correct font, size and exactly like a pair of unaltered LB No.4's, '42 and '43 date, i still have here. Forends weren't numbered at the LB factory after 1943 that I'm aware of. They didn't stamp serial numbers on the forends throughout the remainder of production, '49-55 at CAL either. Like you say, it doesn't matter. Just observations of mine.