The serial number on the lower would have been in a serial number range supplied by a sub contractor to S&W. However, neither the sub contractor nor S&W have any record of that serial number ( and I have a feeling many more ) . That is why they are very interested in it. Or at least that is what story they are telling me. LOL

A very interesting thread!
Foxtrot (verbose, ain't he) has perfectly written everything I was itching to pen as I was reading the thread. Thanks to him for a fine job! Given all that has been written I would take the following action, if I were in your shoes:
1. I would not fire the weapon.
2. I would contact S&W, possibly Darryl, but ONLY by email. NOT by phone! ONLY Email or letter!
3. Offer (in an email) to send the rifle complete to S&W with the understanding that within 60 days they will either return the rifle (unaltered) or replace the rifle (with the model previously agreed) regardless of whatever their investigation finds.
4. Request on an email reply before sending the weapon.
5. Ship it through your local shop just for recoding purposes. This will prove to the LAW that it is definitely not in your possession.
6. If they refuse to obligate themselves to replace it, but they still want you to send it in? I'd probably go ahead and send it.

Here's why:

Yes, I'd probably cave at some point, just to avoid the possibility of a very unwelcome knock at the door.
If S&W thinks you have a counterfeit rifle they will want it off of the street. S&W would be under no obligation to buy it or to trade for it; they could simply demand it or send the law for it. However, they'd probably not escalate that way. I suspect that they would voluntarily offer some compensation to you as you are seen as innocent AND because you're actually doing them a service by helping them get it out of circulation.
IF the gun is counterfeit, you need to understand that you have a very weak hand at the table, in fact, you are in great jeopardy. The possession of it is, itself, illegal. We are no longer talking dollars, we're talking about legality and the possible consequences of being found to have knowingly engaged in Possession of an Illegal Weapon.

What would you be willing to risk your RKBA for?

FWIW I have contacted my local BATF agent. He says so long as the lower has not been altered to allow the installation of an autosear, that I am not breaking any laws by possessing this rifle.
But none the less, I am working with S&W to resolve this and have several emails to verify that. He says those in themselves are enough to prove that I am in the process of rectifying the issue.
The only action that could be taken against me, according to both the ATF and a friend , who just happens to be a judge, would be in the case of copyright infringement. Which #1 would be hard to prove that I did, and #2 would be hard to prove that I intended to profit from it. I have enough records of who I purchased it from and how I paid for it to show that a good faith purchase was made.

But anyhow....to get past all that mumbo jumbo, I am still continuing to attempt to work with S&W to get all of this resolved.

That's excellent! A couple of posts were added while I was typing my earlier post, so some of it seems out of sequence.

I would still strongly suggest that you get Paul's email and send him a message summarizing what you understand the agreement to be and ask that he re: the message. You'd be amazed how effective this is as proof later; and how useless the recollection of a phone call is.

Be good to have the BATF on email also!

Ricky

Good luck with it. I still think S&W will keep their word and hope it all works out for you!

Interesting read Foxtrot. The legal issues regarding a counterfeit lower receiver hadn't occurred to me.

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M&P15T M&P9 M&P9c SW1911 4506

Interesting that in Patrick Sweeny's Second AR15 book, in the S&W section he shows an early production model (#221) with 5.56 clearly engraved on the selector side of the lower receiver.

Interesting indeed....

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M&P15T M&P9 M&P9c SW1911 4506

I have a MOE model, and it has "5.56 NATO 1/9" on the barrel, and serial number is 08xxx.

I bought it from a local gun dealer last August.

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*Aim small, miss small...

Well and end to the drama! Kate and Paul in customer service did a great job at following up with what they said would happen! Today I made the trade at a local S&W authorized dealer. I did get an upgraded rifle and Kate says that there are 3 more magazines being shipped to my home. All in all, the end was worth the means, but at the same time........I am glad it is over! Thanks for all the advice and words of wisdom. I only have 2 S&W firearms to date, but I am guessing that there will definitely be more in my future!

Congratulations on resolving the issue and in getting a new gun.

Did they determine if the lower receiver and/or the rest of the gun was counterfeit?

They do not even have the suspect rifle yet. Just made the swap about an hour ago! It will get shipped back to them in the next day or two, I would imagine.

Picture please and any explanation of what it was you had that they wanted to take for investigation.

What'd they give you?

They wanted the entire rifle returned to be used to start an investigation. Pictures were in the first few posts I thought? Basically , I bought it as a used, but never fired rifle. I got a little suspect because I couldn't find any markings on the barrel. Called S&W a few times and sent them some pictures. They called me trying to get me to ship it to them so they could start an investigation against, possibly, one of their subcontractors.

I received a M&P15T Floated rail and Troy flip up battlesights! Pretty good trade, if you ask me! LOL It did take some patience, but like I said......all worth it in the end.

LOL, I wanted pics of the NEW one but if they gave you an original "T" model, you really scored. Now go buy a lottery ticket before the horshoe dislodges!

Yup! Original T !!!!! Smith & Wesson SKU# 811001 Retails at $1928. Not bad at all....I am happy.....finally! I had only asked for the one with the Magpul sights, because he said my original pick ( Performance Center model) was just too expensive! Ended up with this one!

Excellent news! I'm glad you've gotten the trade, and most importantly, played a key role in helping the rest of us NOT end up with bogus (and probably dangerous) rifles in the future! Thanks for that.
I would certainly be interested in the rest of the story...though it will likely remain untold.

i have that same upper receiver marking on my new x, is that the correct marking from sw, my serial number begins with 19. i just got at a gunshow does this mean mine is a no name upper to? how can u differentiate between upper recevers. its a weird half circle thing mark just like in the pics at the start of the thread between the thumb assist and upper rail.

Sounds to me like you think you hit the lottery. Wanting them to let you pick out "any" gun and you go for something overly expensive. Nice move!I highly doubt S&W is going to "steal" your rifle if you send it to them. But you want them to buy it and let you pick out an overly expensive replacement.
I hope they tell you to just keep it.

Read the entire thread Jackwagon! They called me and made that offer because THEY wanted the rifle back. It's already a done deal. Over. Done. Period.

No real way to identify uppers that I could find. That mark is the Cerro forge mark. Doesn'tidetify who macined it or what barrel or anything else.