Again I'd love to take this back to facts. Science and history are both based (mostly) on facts. The surfaces and fonts (I know you said font match was a non issue) just don't jive. I came uneducated, but I can learn and study. If I wonder about a rifle, I might look at 5 subjects or more above and below the serial. I AM aware one can find AN example to support their argument, especially in the current environment. I have been exposed to some very good fakes here and also some awful ones. I've developed to the point that I can (usually) spot the easy ones. There ARE variations in most production runs, but there are things that are just plain wrong. Like 1970's Sans-Serif stamps...
Hi. Not taking sides here. For all I know serifs and such differ from manufacturer to manufacture. It's just that I was looking at the CE 44 I block in the pic reference section and while all the 1's have the horizontal line at the bottom on most parts, several small ones (rear site mainly) don't have this line at all. Thanks