Rod Doc, IF you had read my initial post and not just the second one, you would have seen where I said I had defarbed the barrel which explains why I have nothing stamped on it. On top of that, NEVER think that all production is identical. All mine had in it was Made in Itialy, .44 cal and Blackpowder only. Now all I have are a few proof marks and the date code on the right side of the frame and a S MARCO on the front left so faint you almost miss it. IF I ever decide to re-do the case hardening, I will remove these as well.
As far as the date, I know that too and said it accuratly as well as the date code on it is XX8 which = 1972 for ASM.
Now, in regard to my trigger and bolt screws, I replaced the chewed up ones that were on mine when I bought it with Uberti replacements. No, they do not fit right in, yes, I had to do some minor reworking, but nothing I was unable to do......however I understand and have no hard feelings toward those who feel better letting a trained gunsmith do this for them.....and thus the look that is different.
What I DID hear is early ASM was of a higfher quality than later, that later when they tried to make a product for all budgets, quality was lessened in some of the lower $ versions found at store X vs the higher $ ASM at store Y and this is what ultimatly killed them (although they are not technicly dead since they were bought and now offer other black powder item as well as other replicas (I have one, a Chiappa 1911 clone in .22 LR, love it) AND the early ASM was closer to the real colts to boot. I can tell, after looking over all those Walker photos that the Uberti Walker had a deeper bevel on the octagaon portion of the barrel below the plunger on the loading level than ASM did, and the ASM version is more accurate or looks more in line with the initial 1847 Colt production due to this, and perhaps also due to those smaller, but easier to ruin, bolt and trigger screws too.
