Took a much closer look at the sights and the sling on the rifle I acquired last Tuesday.
The stamp on the sling though partially obliterated appears to me to read "Rock Island Arsenal ***3". The first 3 numbers of the date are unreadable so they could be from any of several decades.
The rear sight does have the "sgt peep" others have mentioned, and it functions.
The pics of the bore are after cleaning, it looks good to me.
http://www.fototime.com/inv/B7FA4E528557611