have been able to get the practice inlet done after a couple of alterations to the jig and it holds four down and feeds flawlessly. Then the barrel turned up that had been part of the trade for the action. It was a stepped barrel that I had intended to have the steps machined off but it turned out to be a large ring barrel so wouldnt fit the small ring action without turning the thread off and rethreading for the small ring. As it was just 20 1/4 in long, this coupled with the machining needed for the step removal and the rethreading put it out of contention for use so in thinkingnthrough the possibilities I got onto one of the short chambered 6.5x55 barrels from Brownells which I will have shortened a little and rechambered for the 6.5x57.
I got a set of Hornady New Dimension dies in 6.5x57 from Ebay for under US$58 so things are moving in the right direction again.
Frank has been exceptionally generous and sent me a lovely blank to build this one on