RGS022
I understand your desire to keep this gun. Don't. It is a money pit. Unless you can get it for a less than a third of the selling price you will be better off to get your money back and keep looking. In fact if you send it back the seller will most likely have it six month from now and might be willing to sell it for pennies on the dollar to get rid of it. This gun is a money pit and it sounds like you do not have deep pockets for such a venture.
You just got a gun with a $2,500.00 hidden defect. Had the barrels been trash would you have waited on minute to send it back? No. It would cost less to have Teague line the barrels than it would to replace the stock. And even if the $2,500.00 labor plus the cost of a decent blank does not make you stop then consider that you will have two different peices of wood and matching the finish and color is almost impossible. I hate bright butt stocks and dull, dark forends that scream replacement.
If you think that a sidelock butt stock is hard and expensive to restock then just about double the total price to do the foreend. There is a reason that you see only new butt stocks and not new for and aft stocks. Every seller or owner gets to the point where they just wish to stop spending money hand over fist. Either offer to buy just the metal at a steep discount and have it stocked completely or send it back. Otherwise you will end up with more in the stock than the gun is worth. I have seen several people put $3,000.00 in a $1,0000.00 gun, mostly in LC Smiths. You are near that money pit yourself in this gun.
When you file a claim and UPS denies it because of poor packing it becomes the shippers problem. UPS is in fact saying it was badly packed and normal shipping could not be expected to get it here in one peice. The shipper has to pack it properly, which they failed to do. This seller has no choice but to give you back your money. No matter what he says he will loose when push comes to shove. Been there and done that as they say. Took me four months to get all my money back, but in the end they paid up and then some.
