I spent the better part of 3 1/2 years on it, taking the time to find as many parts as I could. Old parts just seem to pop up all of a sudden there will be a whole bunch of them, then they are gone for awhile, so be patient. My current project has an original 45-60 barrel but my first one I had a new barrel made for it because I wanted a 50-95, and those barrels are impossible to find, unless they are attached to a $15,000.00 receiver
. One thing you will find out when you are piecing one together like this is the parts may not want to work together, these guns were originally hand finished, and some degree of that will need to be done to get the 'new' pieces to work together. I spent hours filing on mine so they worked the way they should. I could probably write a book on the whole thing if i wanted...
. Keep an eye out for possible parts guns, I bought two just to get some very hard to find and expensive parts off of. That's how I ended up with my second project, and if I really wanted I could start a third, but the receiver is cracked at the trigger, which is unfortunate as it is a single set trigger. It could be welded...maybe I'll get to it in time. Anyways, I'll stop rambling. Before you start filing on parts to make them work, remember, the screws that hold the lever and lifter springs in are used to adjust the timing on the original guns, Winchester even tells you that in the old manuals. The new repop's today are built for the screws to always be tight.
WC