Who knows what is going on with the couple spots of rib matting that is missing. Most likely some damage to the rip that was polished out and removed the matting. Are those spots low? They would have to be to have completely remove the matting.
Looks to me like the reciever was blued. maybe it is just the lighting.
The buttstock checkering pattern is not correct and poorly done. The checkering itself is ok looking, but the pattern is very bad. And the grip cap is not correct. As for the buttstock itself... hard to say. Have you checked for a Serial number under the guard? There is not much about the form of the buttstock that screams that it is a replacement, but the overall finish of it compared to the forend points to at least a refinish if not a replacement.
As for what to do to the gun, it is compeltely up to you. It would be a very good candidate for a complete restoration since there is a lot of little issues with it. In that senario, the rib matting is the only thing that would strike me as being the difficult thing to repair correctly.
I do agree that recutting the checkering and adding some finish to the forend is a good idea. Maybe also redo the checkring on the wrist to be correct would be a good idea (if there is enough to work with there). Or maybe even a replacement of the buttstock to one that that is 100% correct.
Other than that, I think you ahve a good shooter there.
Or it could just be a shooter.
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B. Dudley
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