Pete,
It looks to me that the "flat-slab" barrel is an artifact of poor lighting and poor photo reproducton.
Remember that the test pistol was a one-off prototype, and the other guns illustrated are from a 200-piece production run. One might expect a few changes, improvements as a result of the test and slight modifications to facilitate actual production.
And thanks very much for the photo of the actual test trials piece, very interesting.
--Dwight
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