Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Model 340 with cut checkering, factory or not?

A buddy bought a Model 340 22 Hornet at a gun show a couple months ago and I just got to see it. It has cut checkering. I have seen some with impressed checkering and some with no checkering, but can't recall ever seeing one with cut checkering. To me, the checkering looks factory but I figured I'd ask the experts. If it is factory, would that indicate a date range of when the gun was made?