Late War Underwood Barrel Question

[Dave-In-Maine]

Back to carbines for a minute....
I have an AAQ post-war rebuild Underwood. I think it is a total fluke that the receiver, barrel and bolt are all marked for Underwood. The remainder of the parts are an expected mish-mash of upgraded parts. I love it--it is the logical conclusion of the carbine program, and a nice counterpoint to my cherry 1943 untouched Underwood.

The barrel marking is hard to read, though.

The "UNDERWOOD" is pretty crisp, although the UN and OD are deeper and more distinct than the DERWO and in fact the R is pretty faint.
There is the flaming bomb ordinance stamp in the right place. Again, the very center of the stamp is faint, the outer edges marginally more defined.
The date is tough. It "looks" like it is 9-?4. The "-" is centered right under the RW and is pretty faint. The "9" and the "4" are pretty crisp. The "?" could be either a space, or I almost think I can see the very very faint outline of part of a "4."

So, the questions are:
1: Does a 9-44 barrel date seem plausible (my books are inaccessible right now, so I can't look it up yet).
2: Could it be a 9-4X date? I have read, I think, about some post-war dated Underwood barrels.

I have looked with 198-lumen light glancing at an angle, using an illuminated magnifier as an aid, and just can't quite tell.

The best pic I have been able to manage is:
Front Sight | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Appreciate all thoughts/comments.

Information

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[lbelflowers]

Underwood had a spare barrels contract,for repair parts,after their contract for carbines had been cancelled. Think it ran into Nov. of 1944. Bill Ricca can probably give you the complete contract info.

Loren