Matt,
I'm the guy with the barrel problem, and yes, I bet it's an aberration. On the plus side, I finally found the courage to disassemble the action completely, because I felt that if I screwed it up, I wouldn't be able to shoot the rifle anyway. Suffice it to say that the action is now cleaned up perfectly and works as smoothly as butter. You are going to love that rifle, it shoots tremendously, and even if it didn't, it's still pleasant to shoot and that makes it FUN. It's also a beautiful weapon (except for mine, which has an extra hole in the barrel). Congrats on you acquisition!
Dave