I purchased my 9422M in1972. What I remember checkering came a few years later. If I remember correctly the ones with checkering were the up graded models.
Yup but early 9422 were plain, then came the XTR.
I can't remember if both standard and XTR were available w checkering at same time.
But both were listed later with it.
Then there's that Legacy thing they did to further ugly them up LOL
My '78 XTR's are smooth and the '88 XTR's checkered. The checkering looks great, but I prefer the feel of the smooth. All the 9422s are high quality, even the non-xtr's. I believe the XTRs were made from '78 to '88. There's a pretty good database on Rimfire Central at the top of the Winchester section.