What grades did you order? If you ordered a rack grade, then much higher wear and tear should be expected. But a field grade rifle should never exceed 3 M.E. and/or 5 T.E. A service grade will usually gauge less than 3 M.E. and 4 or less on T.E. - though a 5 T.E. is still possible on a service grade if the rest of the rifle is stellar. If the T.E./M.E. numbers exceed the grade description of what you ordered, then the rifle was mis-graded and they will replace the rifle no questions asked. If you just got barrels showing numbers at the lower end of the spectrum, that may or may not mean anything.
The thing is (and you may already know), you really shouldn't judge the quality of the rifle, or even the barrel, just by the M.E./T.E. numbers alone. It is common knowledge amongst collectors and armorers that brand new (G.I.) barrels could measure up to a 3 on the throat erosion gauge. A new G.I. barrel could also gauge up to a 1.5 or even a 2 (according to some) at the muzzle. With regard to the throat erosion, for example, a "5" on the gauge is only 5 thousandth's more than zero. And given all the multitude of factors that affect Garand accuracy, that 5 thousandths at the throat means little to nothing standing alone. The condition of the entire bore and especially the condition of the crown plays a much greater role in accuracy and quality. It is true that a lower number at the muzzle will generally indicate a greater potential for accuracy, though that may not play out in practice. The thing is, anything up to a 5 T.E. and/or 5 M.E. is still "serviceable", which means that it should still be capable of meeting or exceeding military accuracy standards - which is all the rifle was intended to do to begin with. Unless you are planning to shoot the rifle in matches, that is plenty good enough. The funny thing is, I have a WW2 production SA with its original barrel that gauged a 3 T.E. and 3 M.E. from CMP that shoots just as well as my Rack Special that has a new Criterion barrel that gauged a 1/1 or less. And with the exception of my H.R.A. that I shoot in matches, that 3/3 SA easily outshoots all of my other Garands even though it has the worst numbers out of the lot. And for collector value, an original matching barrel with a higher (but serviceable) M.E./T.E. is usually much more desirable than a replacement barrel with somewhat lower numbers.
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