[Ron Wood]

Tom
The cockeyed numbers on the side plate, recoil lug and trigger don't bother me too much. It is interesting to note that these three numbers are virtually identical in their mis-alignment. At a guess I would suspect that the number dies were hand set in a jig for stamping and the operator didn't notice it at first. The numbers on the takedown lever and grip safety look OK so I guess he sobered up by the time he got to those. I would be more concerned if only the sideplate and trigger showed this anomoly, but since the recoil lug is the same way, it is unlikely that all three were replaced and only the barrel and frame retained. I am at a loss to explain the striations (file marks?) on the frame behind the trigger. I'll let someone else exercise their imagination for that, I've exhausted my "guess quota".
In AUTOMAG I once postulated that the "above the range" serials might have been replacements for test pieces lost or damaged beyond repair during the field trials. I was politely shot down by responses that there were no other contracts in which replacement was known to take place. So I think I will just stick with the conjecture that the contract serials may not have been contiguous and that the range may be a bit wider than previously thought. 10% failure and replacement does seem a bit high to me, but who knows?