Remington Pattern 14 canted front sight

[oldfoneguy]

The asterisk or star you refer to is actually an indicator of an early WWII Weedon upgrade rebuild. Your correct in assuming the bolt is a force match as it was replaced during the refurb. These were replaced with a bolt with a longer right bolt lug to cure a feeding problem. There should also be a corresponding relief cut in the barrel face for the extended bolt lug. If there is no visibly machined relief cut in the barrel face then the barrel was replaced.
The Weedon process was applied to rifles that were built prior to December 1916 when the MkI version came out with the extended bolt lug already incorporated into the rifle. There should be a '16 year date stamped on the barrel on the left side just forward of the breech among the many other stamps. This would indicate that it is an original barrel. A picture of the stampings in this location can help determine originality.

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[chexquest87]

There should be a '16 year date stamped on the barrel on the left side just forward of the breech among the many other stamps. This would indicate that it is an original barrel.

This picture shows the 16 date stamp on the barrel.