Bret,
I do love a good pork roast, and if you've got the hogs located I think I've got the fixins for em! I will try and answer your questions in order. First the 26 inch barrels, they are that length because a fellow came by the shop one day before I got them shortened to the planned 24 inch length. He told me that he thought I should leave them at 26 inches and I thought at the time he might be interested in buying it when it was finished, so I left them at 26 inches. They are thin enough at the muzzles that they don't throw the balance off at all and I get the benefit of a little extra sighting radius plus some extra speed. The gun balances at one inch ahead of the hinge pin with the scope mounted and about the same with it off.
The tig welding does sound like a good idea, at least on the surface,no pun intended), however, I don't have a tig welder myself, and the place that I have do tig welding for me has created a few problems for me in the past. Don't ask me how they did it but some items I have had them weld up in the past( triggerguards,etc.), have come out with tiny air holes in the welded areas. The guy who did it blamed the metal or implyed that it either had oil on it or was contaminated by the previous bluing job. Not knowing all that much about tig welding, I didn't argue with him but I know that there was no oil on it, at least. I have also noticed that when his brother does the welding for me there are never any air holes. If you decide to do that and carefully buff or sand all bluing off and do the welding to the monoblock before you fit the barrels, I see no reason why it won't work. Many times I can just strike off the writing with a file if it is not too deep but you don't want to go too deep or you will weaken the wall of the monoblock. It also has to be kept to the right conture as it is filed which is not always practical. I never try and remove the manufacturers name or any other identifying marks.
If you are really interested in the way this was stocked, send me a PM and I will be glad to discuss it with you. Bob H.