(as always, Blogger kills the image quality. Click any image to see a better version)
Then you take a closer look. There is RUST sprinkled here and there, especially by the gas ports and the muzzle end of the barrel. And the forearm has a CRACK in it. The forearm on the 1400 Mark 2 is a cosmetic piece, but you never like to see cracked wood furniture on a gun. Plus, the gas valve has caked-on fouling. I'd hate to think what will happen in a few more years (decades?) when the next owner ALSO does not clean the action, and the barrel mounting ring welds finally get eaten through by rust . . .
The action cycles smoothly and shows surprisingly little wear for the amount of fouling there was in the gas valve.
The exterior was either poorly finished to begin with, or it was cleaned with the wrong types of solvents . . . there are THREE colors of metal within a couple of inches, at the joint and transition between the barrel and the receiver.
The choke is a screw-in type, in this case a Modified.
The barrel is mirror-bright, except at the gas ports and inside the choke.
The business end:
It bears all the usual markings, plus the fancy molded picture of a bird of some sort taking off from sci-fi scenery on the Taiwanese "Upland Game" recoil pad
My 1400 was made in New Haven CONN.USA.For over 40 years it still looks and works Great.It has never let me down.
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