Harry,
Thanks so much for that tidbit. I had thought for sure there must be a fairly simple way short of spending too much money to tighten up the breech/barrel fit. That alone probably saved me a bunch!
Ok, no to the rust blue. I had mistakenly thought that was what was original to this double. So a Twist's barrels get a black and white finish like Damascus barrels? Would the process be similar to what Tom Flanigan describes here?
https://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfg2h...gwgwmqdh&pli=1
Does anyone have any pictures they can share of (plain?) Twist barrels finished in black and white? Also, do any parts originally get blued like the triggers and guard? I suspect someone blued several parts including the barrels, side plates, and hammers at some point. I was able to easily rub it off with a scotch brite metal finishing pad to bring it to the point shown in the pictures.
I will look into stock repair vs. replacement. With so much of the inletting portion missing I was concerned that would be real expensive. If possible this old wood, even though plain, has a lot more character (read wear and age) that would undoubtedly be more appropriate for a gun of this age and condition that a new replacement stock.
Thanks again to everyone.
-Eric