Good show Sixgun, it's a '78 Marlin; the guy that owns it had a round barrel (barrel band carbine) and wanted an octagon barrel. He found one at Numrich (supposedly off a "Zane Grey Commemorative"), and swapped them out. Then he decided he wanted the curved buttplate & slimmer forend. Since he knew
I was doing the same to mine... And some of the inletting had been buggered up... So, this is how it ended up. I went thru 5 forends before sending the last one out to a gentleman to do the inletting and slimming down... THAT job is beyond my skill set. That particular forend is longer than anything anyone makes for the 1894. It's actually a 336 forend, and not walnut like the stock. Unable to locate an octagon forend of the correct length (or longer), the new one had to be modified.
![Image](http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d197/sass93/DSCN0680.jpg)
There's the two projects side by side. The difference in forend length is quite noticeable. I still have some final sanding to do on mine near the buttlplate.... Finally got the buttplate fitted, (sent to the same specialist as did his forend)! No, he didn't show me his trick to doin' 'em!
![Twisted Evil :twisted:](./images/smilies/icon_twisted.gif)
But, I'll do the final overall shaping on the sides of the stock. Then, I think I'll put a finish on the wood while the metal is being CCH'd.I will say this... I like sanding on wood with bare metal vs. one with a finish already on the metal... nerve-wrecking!