Top lever sticks when opening

[BRDHNTR]

Here is part of the rest of the story but let me back up a bit. I bought the DHE from another member about 3 yrs ago I think. It was noted at that time that the titanic barrels on the gun were not original but had replaced the original Damascus barrels with these 31 inch barrels. I noticed at the time that the top of the breech fit slightly below the top of the face of the frame where they meet but the gun shot ok and I let it pass. Last yr I sent it out to Bachelders to have it cleaned. I shot it on trap for awhile after it came back and then I noticed that the top lever was starting to stick so I took it over to Dan Cullity in Sandwhich, Mass and who is about 9 miles from my house to take a look at it and tell me if it would be a simple fix or not. Dan is a world renown engraver and gunsmith. Dan, after evaluating it, says "its a Frankenstein fit" by whoever did this but it certainly was not Parker, Remington or DelGrego". He also noted that whoever did the fit also re-engraved the serial numbers to match the numbers on the frame and elsewhere. (I think by the way, there should be a law against doing this as in my opinion, it constitutes fraud.) In any event, Dan says too much metal had been removed on the barrel hook and elsewhere plus there were other issues, all expensive to repair. So,I put a wanted ad out and one of our members has offered to sell me a set of 30 inch frame 2 Damascus barrels in excellent condition with plenty of wall thickness, no dings, scratches, nothing that would compromise the barrels. Called Dan Cullity to have him hold off on any repairs till we see how well these Damascus barrels will fit up. These are 1902 vintage barrels, my DHE was produced in 1906 I believe. As long as there is sufficient wall thickness, I have no issue shooting Damascus and I'd rather be shooting a slightly shorter barrel set anyway. And this otherwise nice DHE came out of the factory originally with Damascus so this barrel change if it works would in spirit return it to close to the original as intended by Pafrker and I'm ok with that. The story will be continued.....