All,

I see several questions from recent posts I'll try to address.

On the issue of "oily". I wiped it down while doing an initial cleaning the night it arrived.

I think the flats were marked for 60 grains, along with other proof marks, 450/400, etc. I don't remember if it was marked .411. I do think 3 1/4 was marked on the top of one of the barrels.

The rifle was clearly used, but had no damage that was obvious to me. Rifling looked strong but I did have the impression that that the breech end of the left barrel was a little softer. There was no pitting in barrels or chambers that I could discern.

I think I've not done a good job of explaining the firing and each barrel's respective group sizing. If the barrels had been regulated for the ammunition provided, I would have probably had a loose 4-5" group.

If I had gotten that kind of performace, I would have probably tried some shots from a steady supported position just to see how much tighter it would shoot. That would have still been with no sling and with the fore end supported in my hand as nearly the same as I was doing offhand. The shots I tried using a sitting position (no sling) printed righ in with the offhand shots.

I did not use a chronograph and that leaves a glaring void in what I would like to know. When I talked to Ernest (think I was in Egypt then) about the firing results, he he thought about 2200fps should bring the groups into convergence. The implication was that the rounds I shot may have been loaded to lower levels. He seemed a bit vague and did not confirm that the rounds he had sent were the ones that provided the accuracy he had mentioned.

Regards,
Emory