1. They have nothing to do with each other. Chances are they are done on different machines anyway, especially with the prevalence of Fiber Lasers.The set of facts you presented have nothing to do with the OP's issue. You and the other guy you spoke of caused the damages on those firearms, they did not come damaged. If those damages were on your 9k Zoli, would you pay 9k for it?
I believe the concern is twofold:
1) if something as insignificant as the lettering has tool marks like the OP's, I'm curious to know how much attention the machinists are paying on the more critical areas of their receivers? I had a lower several years ago where the FCG pins did not line up, so when I swapped triggers, it was a lot of fun trying to get the pins back in.
2) I haven't read anyone carry-on about the tooling marks in regards to how the lower looks. I believe the primary issue is paying full price for an item that is clearly a blem. As I stated, from my perspective, I would be pissed that I would be the one selling it as a blem IF I elected to sell the item in the future.
I shoot. A lot. For fun. For livelihood, possible survival. I still do not treat my firearms like some fucking rag dolls just because I don't want to be a "scared little bitch" with scratches, dents and dings in my hardware. I've got a few firearms with many, many rounds on them and if I didn't say anything about it, some folks would think they were close to new.
A wise man once told me, "take care of your gear, and your gear will take care of you."
These are non critical dimensions. ATF stipulates identifying marks have to be 1/16" and .003 deep.
All guns are blems. All blems are just a way to sell more product without devaluing your brand/market. Its one of the oldest games in the gun industry. I got "non blems" than look 10 times worse than "blems" from the same manufacture. It means nothing.
Firearms are either safe to sell or not. No one is going to risk the liability of selling anything remotely suspect, much less advertise them as such.
Stop trying to make assumptions like if they do this.............then they may do this. Shit is nothing but made up conjecture.
Do you see anyone complaining that their Larue lowers don't work, or won't accept small parts kits, or have excessive slop?
No , so don't make up issues where none exist.
At the end of the day 95% of customer complains are due to customer ignorance and lack of experience. For every legit issue they get 20 calls or emails from people who couldn't open a seial box without instructions and pictures about how their product is defective.
It be one thing if here was massive gouges or obvious signs of abuse. These are not even worth talking about much less creating a thread trying to get the band of karens who don't even shoot riled up becuase their nails don't match their purses.