I guess the current owner doesn't have a receipt to show you?
Take the serial number and ask a gun store to run it. This won't show who it actually belongs to, but it will show if it has been reported as stolen. You could also ask if the current owner has the capture papers for it (a document giving the GI permission to take it home), this will tell you who originally brought it to the US and you could try and track previous owners from there. It's a long shot though.
If I were you, I would check and make sure it's not stolen just for peace of mind. That's about as much as you can realistically do, and it will prove good faith if the ownership is ever questioned. Really, a bill of sale will cover the legal mumbo-jumbo.
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