Hello! New here, Question on possible M1 purchase.

[Joe W]

I asked this question of Bob Seijas a while ago and this was his reply :
" Amazing how many (receivers) were sent back because of things like "rear sight notches not milled" or "clip latch hole not drilled." Then there were things like the fact that 20% of all rifles failed firing tests until 1943. That's one out of every five. These recycled receivers were returned from repair from two weeks to three months. You can't go by serial numbers without a large fudge factor. Scott Duff's serial number tables are rough estimates of the average rifle..... they are not gospel, something he will not only admit, but insist on. Don't fool with that gun unless you have proof positive,"

Dave McClain followed up with " There was an average scrap rate on receivers of about 6-7 % per month during WW2. If the serial number was already applied, it was general practice not to re-use the serial number. That along with what Bob Seijas explained, makes it impossible to determine the exact day, week or even month a rifle was assembled from any published chart. The only thing you know is that the rifle could not have been assembled before the barrel date. Keep in mind that most months average 30 days so a barrel date alone could be off a month at assembly if it was marked on Nov. 1 versus Nov. 30.
SA also stored a small percentage of receivers on a "Contingency Reserve" and from hands-on-data, it's very obvious those receivers were replaced by new ones from time to time and older ones were assembled. It's not unusual for these contingency reserve receivers to be out of sequence by 6 months or more by barrel date and upgraded parts."

So, could your barrel be original to that receiver ?? It sure could.