Correct? Hmmmm....

I bought a new Chevy truck last year. When shopping I found that I had alot of factory and dealer options available for me to choose from. I also found out that there were alot of variables which were also factory dependent. As I walked the lot, I noticed that the stickers showed alot of different information - size engine, plant assembled at, even the percentage of the truck assembled in Mexico and Canadaicon (vice a US factory). When I put the money down and drove off the lot, I can honestly say that I have both an orginal AND a correct 2009 Chevy pickup. Because of the options and other other choices, I have yet to see one driving around Fort Worth which looks just like it... even other 2009's.

I actually took the time to read the integration charts in the back of War Baby! Between the free barrel program and the parts transfer, I do not think that more than 5,000 carbines (ok, guessing) came off the assembly lines as exact twins of another. Then take the time to add part revisions implemented at different times by the 10 producers, in-service repairs using any parts available, various wartime usage across 30 years and armory rebuilds conducted at various stages. (Oh, don't forget Billy who scratched his initials into the stock so he could find his carbine in all the mud.) So what is correct? Correct is a carbine with USGI parts which were appropriately used to produce the carbine. With 10 major contractors plus the 100's of subcontractors providing various parts, there is no grand answer with which to grade by. There were 6 million "correct" carbines between 1942 and 1945. None of us can go back in time to the factory floor to see if the parts being put in this serial number carbine was from the top or the bottom of the parts bin - or if the latest parts revision has actually made it to the assembly floor. And aside from one certified as never issued, "original, factory condition" in a museum, there is no guarantee that the one you are holding in your hands is the way it was made 65 years ago.

Oh, and as another soap box point, I live 1/2 mile from the Buearu of Printing and Engraving where they print every US dollar bill with the "FW" on the right hand side. Yet as I look in my wallet, I have no idea as to how many hands the 6 year old bills in the wallet have gone through between the Printing building and my wallet. SO how many countries, armories and hands has your carbine seen between the factory and your gun safe in the last 65 years?

So what is correct? To me its a carbine that goes "bang" every time I pull the trigger.

(Yep, slow day at work so I decided to rant).
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