Can't tell you how much I appreciate your input, and patience, with us relative newbies! I was so wrong in my non-marking assumption (based on taking it completely apart a few years ago) that I am going to post a photo of the affected area!
I hereby affirm that I shall never again imply or assume that ANY Savage No.4 ever left The United Stateswithout having the marking US Property
My follow up questions were, "How many came back? and "was it sporterized at P&H?". I will answer the second. No. It must have been done in the US. Why outsource for a Japanese5rd magazine? Would P&H have left the original furniture, no matter how aesthetically pleasing it is, on the rifle? No.
While it shoots straight, functions exceptionally, and is damn pretty, it must have been sporterized here (I bought it at a pawn shop on the Oregon Coast a week or so prior to 9/11).