I know that everyone would like to find a stock rifle, unmolested, perfect after almost 100 years. But in all honesty, I'd rather have a shooter, because I'd like to take it to the field and play with it. With that in mind, I'm OK with restoring, re-bluing, even fitting a new stock or similar. But I can't say I have a lot of experience with that, so I have a question for those who have.

I've been looking for a pre-war .30-06 for some time. I haven't found the perfect one yet, but I do keep looking. I've found one that needs some work, and I think is over-prices (which is a different issue), but I was hoping for some advice.

This one has some pitting, and some rust about the muzzle, and other defects. I would be willing to fill, polish, and re-blue, but this one may be too far gone for that.

I'm even willing to go with a shorter barrel to remove the offending section, and go with a stutzen stock (I know, that's way out there, and may affect accuracy... the .30 - 06 likes some barrel length). But I'm most worried about this etching in the receiver area. Can this be fixed, or is the whole thing hopeless? Thoughts from those who know?