Bonanza:

You and I both! I'm like a kid at Christmas!

I sent the engraver, Mark Swanson, a nice big heck two weeks ago and spoke with him last week.

He has the gun and is drawing some mock-ups right now. (I.e., how to position the animals, the scroll work, etc.)

He said he'll probably start cutting by the end of the month.

We're getting there, friends, we are getting there!

Personally, I find something very romantic with the old .500/450s. If I understand it correctly, it was THE rifle before the rebels got their hands on .450 caliber rifles and started pulling bullets out of the hunting cartridges. If this hadn't happened, and .450 caliber bullets weren't banned in parts of Africa and India, most of the rifles today would have been in this caliber.

You got yourself a beauty there, Bonanza!