David,
The receivers were already numbered, but not completed. Completed WIP inventory was shipped out first thing, then the first 'S' guns were completed in March of 1946.
The barrels were not made under Hunter supervision, this is why there is only one signature line on the barrels, after the start up in January of 1946 on existing WIP.
I have had several of these transition guns starting in the serial 202,900 range. The new L.C. Smith Gun Company took the WIP (work in process) and trickled them into production here and there for several YEARS, for obvious reasons, building the barrels and finishing the guns as they went along.
This is why it took them 3 years to dispose of the WIP, which was very small in comparison to the number of guns that Marlin was producing at the time.....
Chaz's gun has a serial of 205,7XX, very near the END of the WIP production, and therefore was most likely made in 1947, quite some time after Hunter was making anything.....So I disagree with you that his gun was made by Hunter, probably only the unfinished receiver.....
