The barrel serial number matches the rest of the rifle. I hate taking the rear handguards off as I'm afraid of breaking them. I don't think it had been recently removed as there was a bit of cosmolineicon on the barrel. I think this an Arsenal reconditioned rifle, as according to page 6 of Stratton, "Many (perhaps most) early Mk III rifles were "arsenal reconditioned" at which time the volley sights were often removed and new furniture was often installed."