No, it's steel, and I carried it out of the store in 1970. I had to carry it for my mom, it was her gun, she signed for it....(grin)
It is thin, has something like a diamond-plate pattern on it, a magnet sticks to it, and the bluing has worn off the edges.
I never paid much attention until just a little bit later I started seeing them with the plastic buttplates. I'm thinking they just used up old stock before they started installing the newer ones.
I've seen a couple from the mid to late 60's with the steel buttplates and have thought the same, that they were using up old stock. Never saw one from the 70's with steel. Thought they were all switched over to rubber by then. I've had 94's from '75, '77 and '79 and they all had the hard rubber plates.
