John:

The serial of my rifle is 3386416 so I was a little off and so I now provide the full number. Thanks for the information on the bayonet lug but I still have to wonder about the three piece front sight not being correct on both of the rifles mentioned in this stream of messages.

Also, I still have a bunch of new replacement 03-A3 barrels bought way back from the old DCM (something like .98 each) and they all have the two piece A3 front sight assembly and some of the dates run quite late.

So, like a lot of this stuff, there's always more to learn and in the end we may agree or agree to disagree but it's still fun.

David