There is a lot of argument from ignorance, that is, if you have not heard of it, it must not have happened. Nassim Nicholas Taleb got a Nobel prize for his work on Black Swan events. I recall reading a quote of his, "just because you have not seen a Black Swan does not mean they don't exist" An interview I listened to, basically he said, just about when you think you know everything, that is about the time when something really unexpected happens.
There are lots of accidents, things breaking, things happening in the Armed Services that you will never hear of. People with security clearances (except for Hillary Clinton) know that they will go to jail if they talk about what they are doing or what they know, if it is classified. Now when it comes to Safety Incident Reports, the fact of the matter is, the Armed Services only release Safety Incident Reports to Safety Investigators and to Law Enforcement who have a need to know. That fact that none of the people reading this thread or posting in this thread have seen or will ever see a complication of Safety Incident Reports should be a clue that, none of you ever had, or will ever, have a need to know.
Also, there is the assumption that somehow you should have known, because you know everything. If you are truly omniscient, there are a lot of things I would like to ask you. Not only about the past, but also about about financial advice for the future! Being God like has to be a real advantage in timing the stock market.
You know, if I had never heard of opioid addiction, I would never have known about it. I never met anyone who later died from opioid addiction, and yet when I listen to the news, seems one heck of a lot of people are dying from it.
No civilian is required by law to report a rifle blow up to anyone. Occasionally someone reports a blow up, I have found descriptions of low number blow ups on Facebook with cast bullets. These are some pictures of blowups that are not accounted for in Hatcher's Notebook
The Micheal Petrov rifle is sort of interesting. Micheal Petrov was a low number fan boy, had a big collection, wrote about low number rifles on Culver's. He is dead now. But anyway he once posted, but took off, pictures of two low number M1903 that he had fired 8mm Mauser rounds. Both rifles, according to the posts, survived. He had a lot of faith in his low number M1903's and from the last owner of the above rifle, he had fired full power rounds through that rifle before selling it. To the guy whose face is in the picture. The thing blew up on him. Too bad Micheal did not experience the rush as I would have considered that poetic justice.
In 1927 an Army panel conducted tests, they reheat treated a number of low number receivers than put them through over pressure tests. According to Hatcher 33 % failed, and the panel recommended destroying all one million rifles as the whole population was too dangerous to issue. Military leadership decided that a $40 rifle was worth more than a trooper. We have no idea, nor will we ever have, an idea of the number of people injured with the things. Only Hatcher's list exists and it ends in 1927.
Basically, you want to shoot your low number, go ahead. It is your hands, eyes, head, not mine. If your low number blows up, and you are not killed, tell us about it. About 66% of the things should be OK, though there is no way to determine how OK. Based on what I have read about the materials and technology of the period, there should be a wide variation to the things, which was commented about by the 1927 board. Low number receivers varied too much to be restored to any consistent quality. Keep in mind, structurally deficient items do not necessarily fail the first time, they do however fail earlier than expected.
I would stay away from National Ordnance Receivers. There are enough blow up posting on those things that they are only worth the sum of their GI parts. I had one, the lugs set back the receiver seats so much that it became difficult to open the bolt. I believe the casting was soft and was giving way as rounds were fired. It was only a matter of time till it blew. I am glad I got rid of the thing before the case head blew, which has happened to others. I was not as educated on the subject as I am now, but I was getting suspicious that something was wrong with the rifle.