Thank you, gentlemen. John, I am well aware of the upside/down nature of re-stocking. Despite the fact a field grade will never command the same price or respect of a high end grade, most are as well built in all the essentials, minus the exquisite engraving, fancy lumber and attention to detail. That said, I do intend to keep and use the gun and will leave it to the next guy when, to parse Gene Hill, "the bullet with my name on it, fired 70 plus yrs. ago finds me." In the interim, however short it may prove to be, I'd like to carry a fine piece of crotch grain black walnut when I take this gun afield. Call it the cabinet-maker in me -- forty plus years -- that casts a critical eye on anything wood.
