I'm not surprised at the Stoeger strength. I use a Condor Supreme as my beater gun. It is the gun I generally take on the boat duck hunting into the muddy field goose hunting etc. I can't complain and like you got my o/u for about $300.

The project sounds good so far. As I said I'm interested to hear how it does over the long haul. I know what you mean with a lot of other things than merely building a set of barrels. My first homemade DR was a 38-55 using heavy barrels. In fact the gun has all the grace of a demolition derby. I beleive the gun weighs around 12 pounds. With BP and cast bullets it has virtually no recoil though.

Anyway I look forward to hearing how the project is working out.

Are you planning on marketing the guns to the public?

BB