The action has been surface ground and taken to 220 on all major surfaces. The trigger guard/action housing has also been taken through 220.
The lever is forged to shape and inletted into the butt stock.
Got a Biesen uncheckered butt plate and a Fisher medium grip cap that will be installed after the first barrel is fitted and the final stock dimensions can be established.
I'm undecided about how to finish the end of the lever. The Hoffman has a simple forged curl but I got a late 20's to early 30's Griffin and Howe Martini recently that has a checkered and engraved cylinder installed at the end of the lever. A very nice treatment but the lever cannot be removed from the action housing without the retaining screw being removed and the cylinder lifted off. It is fitted very closely (pre EDM--how did they do that?) so I can't see precisely how it was done. I've also seen lever ends that are a graceful sweep rearward below the pistol grip then checkered.
Here is the G&H, the current project and the Hoffman for reference.
