Posted by Tom Martin on December 16, 2014, 5:21 pm, in reply to "Re: 1945 Ideal Grade"
In addition to what Tom Archer has said, the fore end wood was stamped with the serial number on the rear of the wood where it meets the fore end iron. There is not much area there for stamping the numbers, so they are usually split on either side of the cut out for the iron and attachment springs.