This rifle does not have the EX stamp on the front of the action. The rifle does not have any special order extras. It has a original non-matching .32-40 barrel on it with an excellent bore. I do have the matching serial number .22 long rifle barrel, but it has a horrible bore.

I’m not surprised at that, but I have a couple of 44 1/2’s that have the EX stamp on the front of the action that do have special order extras. So who knows?

" JL
It appears as if tight inletting of the stock to the back of the action is important, especially in rifles chambered for hard recoiling cartridges. In your target rifle, did you inlet the radiused cuts, as recommended by bobw earlier in this thread? "
I am not sure exactly what he was referring too?? All of the back of the action including both tangs have been fully epoxied beded to the butt stock. And minus any gaps if that might help to answer his question.

Otto, yes this is the area I was referring to.

My opinion is this area should be inlet tightly and/or bedded on a 44 1/2.  Doesn't matter how deep it is fitted into the frame just as long as its in.  Also my opinion is the factory was in production and most guns were not for target shooting, they were just turning out product.  Not that it make much difference now, due to wood drying out and time, but it might be interesting to see how a factory target gun was setup.

I've included your picture here in order to help show why I believe this needs to be done.

Looking at the front in the picture, the wood is bridged at the top, but is not at the bottom.  The bottom is where the biggest concern is.  By bedding the tangs and the front face of the stock to the back of the frame, yes, you get a solid point for straight recoil, but without the tenon set into the rear of the frame nothing is holding the wood from flexing or spreading at the bottom and away from the lower tang.  The tang retains the wood on the inside, and the tenon, the spreading to the outside.  The tenon should also do a better job of retain the stock at the top and not allow the top bridge to split down the center.  Simply bedding the stock to the rear of the frame and tangs does not hold the stock from twisting out at the bottom.  Just because there is a through bolt, that holds the wood against the frame, verses a couple of wood screws does not make up for the tenon.
Hope this clears up why I originally brought this up and my reasons why.  Also apologize if I sound angry because I'm not!
Bob

Chipmaker-Found a reference to a John Bunch from Garland, Texas mentioned in an article called "Golden Era Gunsmiths" in the February 1993 Precision Shooting. The author mentioned his help with the project, so he was probably around at that time.