I finally got my M1A back from SA, and noticed the barrel is marked "TRW 12 63". Is this a new barrel, or is it a used govt. surplus? Anybody have any info on this?

That is a GI barrel, made by TRW in Dec of 63.  The barrel is chrome lined.  I bought one a while back and it was new, because it was unchambered.  Chances are it is new, or slightly used.

Thanks macloud, I was hoping it was brand new, but I now have a reason to go with a Douglas or Krieger.

Why not at least shoot the TRW barrel before you get rid of it? Unless you're planning to seriously compete in service rifle matches or are making an M21/M25-type rifle, that GI barrel will most likely shoot more accurately than you're capable of.

Don't worry, I'll shoot the shit out of that barrel. Some day I would like to make it in to a "match" rifle, though. An old dude at the range I shoot at has a Springfield Super Match, and it's a very nice rifle, but I would rather wear out my original barrel first, then upgrade later. My original question was to see if it was new or not, since I can't tell by looking at it. Me and Springfield Armory have been going at it over this rifle, and I just wanted to make sure I was getting what I paid for, not surplus junk.

It's probably an unused surplus barrel.  The GI chrome-lined barrels are great, it should outlast a match barrel by quite a bit.  It's a much better barrel for a 'shooter' than a Douglas or Krieger, also lighter and much cheaper.  

If the TRW barrel is used it would have a punch mark in the P stamp on the side near the recvr.  These GI M14 barrels are built too last " chrome bore and chamber " and would be tough to shoot out !

Macloud
How did you chamber the barrel with the chrome bore?
cpermd

I did not.  I ended up buying the rifle in the "some assembly required" fashion.  Basically I bought a box of parts which had about 80% of what I needed.  I bought the balance of the parts and shipped them to a friend in New Mexico for assembly.  He is an 85 year old Navy armorer.  He is assembling my rifle with the greatest of speed, which so far has been about 2 months.  He does excellent work, but he takes his time.  The current holdup is that he does not have a chamber reamer, but he is in the process of getting one.

I don't now the specifics of how he is going to do it, but he did not seemed concerned.  I was also wondering the same thing, but he is the expert and he will get it done, though it may be 6 more months.  This guy has all the neat M1 and M14 specialized tools, so I fell confident that he will get it right.

As a side note, I am trying to find out when the receiver was made.  It is a Springfield Armory M1A with a serial number of 206xx.  I called them, they gave me a number that no one ever answers.  Anyone have an idea?