My exchange student used a photo collection of an antique handgun to come up with the look for the stock, and the choice of deep browning on the barrel. He spent at least 8 hours on the barrel alone, removing all the stamped marks, squaring everything to fit in the stock precisely and getting a deep, dark browning. The lock was fitted to the stock with feeler gauges and it is a tight, precise fit. The pre-cut inlet doesn't allow for "un-doing" exaggerated recesses or curves, but he got the lock where there is absolutely no play with the least amount of gapping possible without correction. The brass parts were hand-filed and fitted for an exact fit. His wood finish concoction is a German recipe from his family that was based on English slaucom oil. It is a mixture of real blood, BLO, finisher and hardener and some Alkenoate Root and charcoal diluted and mixed in an oil. He put a dark chalk on his hands and apron and then drew the gun from a waistbelt. Where the chalk transferred to the gun, he rubbed heavily with dry hands to create faux wear and tear like the gun was regularly used. There are several coats of hard wax buffed in for the finale. The sights were left full so you can adjust to your liking with the exception of the rear sight notch. This was opened a bit until there was a wisp of daylight on either side of the front blade at full arm extension. The loading rod is glued and pinned on both ends and finished with a Tru-oil rub. With a Center hold on a 10-inch bull it hits about 6-O'Clock right now. Only 3-shots were fired, a random 25-grains FFFg with a .440 ball and .010 patch (pre-lubed). At 25-yards it cloverleafed the shots with him shooting. Cleaned to perfection. Has the box and paperwork although the styro-foam was modified to hold the completed item. If I can answer any questions to help I'm happy to do so. While I did not work on the project directly, I provided the training and techniques on other metal and wood for the practice.
