For example, the magazine well on M1A receivers was cut and broached by machine tool after Mr. As Melvin Smith moved to semi-retirement the receiver surfaces noted above were finished by machine. Note that the hand polishing served to enhance the aesthetic appearance but did not add to the functional ability of the M1A receiver. This cosmetic detailing is evident as late as M1A serial number 062857 but was no longer being done by serial number 064922. Specifically, these areas were: 1) the exterior heel corners on the sides 2) the flat surface aft of the operating rod channel 3) the top surface of the left receiver wall from the cartridge clip guide to the barrel ring 4) the vertical surface on the right side behind the cartridge clip guide all the way back including the windage knob ear 5) the left side of the barrel ring forward of the horizontal scope mount groove 6) the magazine well aft of the feed lips and 7) the top surface of the barrel ring after all machining operations that located off the barrel ring had been done. were given a lot of hand grinding and polishing by Melvin Smith. An additional 120 rifles were built for Elmer Bal lance by Glenn Nelson and Wayne Young before June 1974 using stripped or barreled receivers supplied by Elmer.Ġ00001 to 063XXX Receivers machined by Valley Ordnance Co. in Texas assembled about 2000 complete rifles using USGI parts before it was sold to Bob Reese (Geneseo, IL). pdf format.Ġ00001 to 003700 Texas era receivers tend to exhibit one or more dimensional flaws as identified by retired M14 gunsmith Art Luppino. You can e-mail me for a complimentary copy of this in. Short answer: The collector’s choice would be a factory built standard model M1A rifle between serial numbers 0422XX and 063000.

Springfield m1a serial number date