...I could always inlet, glass bed it and send it out as a pattern to have it copied.
Yeah, this. The inletting wouldn't have to be too tedious or precise; the glass will provide a perfect fit to the metal and the duplication can be held to very close tolerances since it's for your gun, not a generic. At the same time, you can make all the mods for shooting fit. I started the hobby with semi-inlets but my last dozen were all from dupes of my pattern stocks. The out-of pocket cost was the same but the bull work I saved was substantial.
