Thank you Kutter and PhysDoc,
I was also suspecting Japanese engraving but did not want to "taint" the responses by stating that up front. When I figure out how to post pictures I will get some good closeups and send them along. The engraving has little marks or gouges every so often in the grooves, I am not sure what that indicates. Thanks for pointing out the intrinsic value of the engraving PhysDoc, that is why I bought it because I thought it was beautiful and maybe it will change my luck on drawing a Wyo bighorn tag!
I did read the posts from BrentD about the low number Springfield grenading. Scary. I will start a thread in the future about a Sedgley I have questions on. It would be a bummer if this was a faked high number rifle. As Kutter said the only real reason to do something like that would be to deceive others for resale. However I can't imagine anyone would shoot a heavily decorated rifle like this very much. I would like to shoot it once, to chrony it and just see how it performs but I have other field grade guns for regular use and this one could just be for show.
The red cast to the receiver is a little odd looking although not as bad in real life as it is in the pictures. Interestingly my everyday hunting rifle is a Model 77 Ruger in .280 Rem which has a similar color to the receiver and has never been refinished. It just started changing over time.
I do have some pics of military markings on the bottom of the receiver that I will post. While they are light, under the chamber I think it says "R" and "NS" with three punch marks nearby. There is also a "3" on the left side under the Echo mount. The bottom of the receiver has nice smooth dark gray parkerizing, more like my 1923 dated 1903A1 NRA sales rifle than my late 1918 barrel date/early 1920 receiver date service rifle which is rougher parkerizing. I wonder if the rifle may have been built with an early low number receiver, then rebuilt with an NS receiver later but the bolt kept as it was previously engraved and polished? Sounds like I need to check headspace. FWIW, the bore is bright but shows considerable wear in the front half. However, there is no wear of the blue at the muzzle, so a reblue at some point is very likely. Another clue might be the trigger - it is the serrated kind, just like the 1903A1.
I also forgot to mention that the stock has visible cast on when stood in the rack next to other rifles. I am not sure why they used cast on, especially with the cheek piece and the Echo mount centering the scope on the bore. But it shoulders and comes to point of aim quickly and intuitively, not awkward in any way.
Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate them. I don't really know anyone around here to talk to about this kind of stuff, so I think I will enjoy being a member of this forum a lot. H
