It's not a tang safety. It's a Mark II. Perhaps it's not an 80's model? 90's maybe? The original owner was in his 80's so he might have remembered incorrectly about how long he'd owned it. The guy I bought it from got it from the original owner as a deer rifle for his son. He then came upon a 22-250 and decided to go with it and sell this 223.
He also had an older Mini-14 he'd gotten from the same guy. It also looked brand new.
Last edited by TATELAW; 09/01/15.