Drew, I hope some day that you will compile all the info you have learned in a book. I would certainly buy it. It would also be interesting to know the compositions of the various makers frames. Some frames exposed to sweaty dirty hands for ages lose their case colors and take on a silvery appearance like Fox guns. Others such as the Remington 1894 tend to get etched thru the case hardening producing zillions of minute pits. This has been my observation and I wonder what the difference is in the steel composition. I also find it very interesting that the lowly Crescent had the same steel tubes as more expensive guns. I always suspected that the Crescent wasn't all that bad a gun. It just lacked the better fitting of the other guns and the machining was not quite as precision. Design wise they probably had the most simple cocking design on the hammerless guns.
