On another note,, I also had WRA 101660 with the low guide rib. This appears to have been change within the first 200 Winchester rifles but this one must have been taken off the line and put back a short time after being stamped with a 4 digit number. This type of thing has led me to believe that serial number 100001 thru 100501 did not mean it was a Educational and the Government only wanted 500 rifles with any numbers. May be wrong but who can say how the Government looked at these? Were they shipped out? I think the Government sent someone over to the factory with Springfield representatives and they went over rifles and approved it.

I guess what I am saying after seeing Bobs post is they didn't care about us collectors 65 years later and they did what they had to. I worked in a factory when I was young and seen sots of things go on so I think like that when it comes to assembly. The Government would pull items of the line and go over them keeping them for weeks sometimes years then putting items back on the line if needed. This type of behavior also could very well have put batches of older parts on newer ones. Rick Bicon