The ones you see a lot of now that are labeled 'T57' or 'New Taiwanese Production' are generally blued instead of phosphate finished. Oh, and you'll never find an actual COO (Country of Origin) on them anywhere. Current speculation is that they're coming out of VietNam and being moved thru either Korea or Taiwan to get them into the US.
There used to be a great write up for free from 'Different', who's probably one of the most knowledgeable M14/M1A history/fraud SMEs you can talk. Unfortunately the guide appears to be be MIA currently.
http://www.imageseek.com/m1a/book.html
Anyhow, short version, make sure that any magazines you buy are from CheckMate Industries and you can't really go wrong. Their 20rd M14 magazines are current USGI and the rest of their line is GTG, especially their 25rd mags.
Kelly H
Yes, I know. No, I won't tell you.
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