I don't know if I'll ever get to shoot this thing, but I'm determined to continue collecting information and what material may be convenient. It may end up being a couple years, but I've found that 32 gauge brass shot-shells can be converted to this brass. $40/25 cases. My immediate logic was "I'd have five cases to wreck figuring this out, and I'd still have a "box" of shells left." Hmmmm,....
I had to make brass scrapers, chisels and awls to dig the petrified gunk out of the action - mostly in the trigger group. Peened a little buggered screw-head metal back in place here and there, but under that crap, bunches and bunches of tool marks and clean metal. The gunk was as hard and tough as bedding compound and it was an amalgamation of whatever it was AND a substrate of what appeared to be cotton fibers. If a fella could wait 150 years, this mess would make a good action bedding compound. Most of it I took for thick rust scale or forging imperfections until it started to finally give way to reveal steel underneath.
I soaked and soaked in Ed's Red, removed a little layer each day, and ended up spraying some cheap WM "Spray Lube" on the stuff and it actually worked better on this particular hybrid of crud. This inside of the action looked extremely good, so this stuff must have provided some protection against the constant sand-blasting in its original homeland. Anyone wanting a carry-piece "melted," de-horned or otherwise made more snag-free - let an Egyptian soldier tote it in the desert for a hundred years and it'll be as smooth and somfy as you could ask for.
Now, as for that "light" trigger I thought I had,... not so much no more! Once I excavated the offending crud out of everything, that trigger is some kind of STIFF, but when it breaks, it breaks CLEAN. Most really heavy triggers I've had were like that, but I think I can shoot it if I get that far. I was warned, so not surprised.
The tang screw has a long, tapered shoulder, which is probably not going to be found at Ace, so I will have to weld shut the furrow where the screw slot once was and recut it. I've NEVER seen a screw head buggered that badly.
I have visitors to keep company this week, but I've been going out and fiddling with this a few minutes at a time. Next step is to clean up the wood/associated hardware.