I doubt that you would have gotten a better match if the cut off portion of the buttstock had been by some miracle preserved and you had reattached it.
My only question concerns why you chose to retain the white pistol grip cap after removing the white inlays.
In any case a marvellous job of resurrection!
LOL, my brother asked me the same thing about the pistol grip. It probably would look better with a steel cap. I kind of wanted to keep the existing one out of respect to whoever it was that reworked the stock originally. But, who knows I may get a wild hair some day and change it out.
GRH, we would love to see some pictures of your 52 project rifles. Thanks for letting me slip this one past, I probably would not have bid much higher. The Winchester collectors turn there noses up at rifles such as this so you can usually get the at a decent price. To me they have a lot more character than a like new factory rifle. But I guess that is just me.
John