Can't answer your questions Mark but will add the insight I have. Years ago I watched a poorly done video given to me by Rich Byer that featured a former employee who'd worked at Hunter as a checker. He started working there after WW2 and had zero experience beforehand. His job was checkering Field and Ideal Grade stocks which were batched in racks containing 25 stocks. He was paid by the piece and was expected to complete 3 racks a day. Obviously that's a lot of checkering; and as is also obvious, the emphasis was on quantity and not quality during the Marlin era as it was the lower grade guns that kept the doors open. Checkering on higher grade Smith guns was reserved for those more skilled veteran employees.