Postman, you gave a very good description of the Merkels that I totally agree with, and I didn't realise that they were that much cheaper than the others in Europe.

In regards to the bore and chamber, mine certainly looks okay to the naked eye but it does appear like the steel has "water stains" in it (may be better ways to describe it) that you can see in the muzzle and end of the chamber where you can look almost straight on to it. It even looks a bit like lead fouling or flaking. It's been like this since I got it (secondhand). I thought maybe it might have had been some corrosion from neglect/abuse at some stage but it doesn't appear to be pitted at all. Weird, but shoots good.

In regards to the Woodleighs, they are pretty much the only option I have for 0.510". In 0.458 and 0.375 they are cheaper than the American stuff over here. I prefer Speers and Sierras for the 375 mainly because they make spitzers and boattails and also give better accuracy at the longer ranges - most of my shooting is just mucking around at the range. I'd use Woodleighs in the 375 for cost reasons when I used to shoot Big Game Rifle regularly.