Quote:
Originally Posted by lew1
Which ones ?
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It appears to me that all of them have been worked on. File/sanding marks are visible on several, and all but maybe the first pic show that the circumferences of the knobs are
no longer strictly round on the bottom, On a couple, a different color of exposed aluminum--newer and brighter looking--is obvious in the area one would expect if the numbers had been removed. One of the aluminum ones exhibits the kind of surface texture that develops when the material is wire brushed by a grinder mounted brush--sort of smeared and round-y bumps.
I would assert that they did not leave the factory this way, that numbers have been removed. Whether this was done by armorers at some time, or by someone else, I can't say. It may have been common practice for armorers to clean up used, previously numbered spares before returning them to stock. But it seems an impossibility to me that they were manufactured to look like this.
I am not a mag expert, and have observed few others than what I myself own. I base my observations on my experience with materials, tools, and processes. I have several early commercial examples in walnut, that accompanied the American Eagles I won. The wear on them in no way produces this appearance, and their knobs are still perfectly round in circumference.
One could check for out-of-round by comparing caliper measurements of the following pair of orientations: A left-to-right measurement which is larger than a top-to-bottom measurement would demonstrate that material has been removed from the bottom.