HKPaul,
Who says a 2-52 (Feb '52) barrel is rare??? They are not, to my knowledge. Springfield Armory made LOTS of them.
Check the full markings on the barrel. There should be either SA or HRA initials near the above mentioned date. IIRC, it should be SA as I think 2-52 is a bit early for HRA barrel production.
BTW, twist rate is not marked on USGI barrels for the M1. It is marked on most commercial barrels.
A Throat Erosion gauged at 2.5 is fairly close to new. Also not rare. The question I'd have is what is the MW (Muzzle wear). MW is much more indicitave of how it's going to shoot.
While this may be a nice rifle, if the owner is trying to pawn it off as something out of the ordinary or "rare", then I'd surely beware, especially if you are trying to purchase it sight unseen.
Re the website for dating M1's..... I don't remember where it is myself.
This website only has info on a few thousand M1's out of 5.5 MILLION produced, and it does not give a "history" of the rifles in it's database, it only has a "vignette", or cross section of where a particular serial number was at ONE POINT IN TIME. Where the rifle was before and after the point it was cataloged is anyones guess. The vast majority of these "vignettes" involve some sort of stateside garrison or test facility use. You will NOT find, "serial # xxxxxxx was issued to the 1st Div form '42 to '45, returned to the US and spent the next 20 years at Ft. Leonard Wood as a recruit rifle".
Rifle "history" records were not kept by any USGI entity that anyone is aware of. Only brief records by stateside units that say "we had such & such rifle in our posession at this point in time". Once a rifle left the factory and was sent to the Army or Marines the serial number was of little interest to anyone. It only mattered that Unit "x" had the same number of rifles in enventory that thay were supposed to have.
I own LOTS of M1's... have yet to find a hit on the database you are referring to..
Just my opinions,
Swampy
