yeoman
I'm not sure what you mean by this (54 fit)
The 54 cal barrel will still fit...
It's all close enough that I do think it can work.I may have to shave the tang face a hair and insert a shim between the barrel and lock.I have a tough time thinking of that shim as "craftsmanship" and would like the tang to continue to function with the 54 cal barrel. Challenges........
I am sure it will work, my biggest worry was the wedge alignment and from what I read you are in the ball park...
I still believe removing a little material from the tang will do the job, but before you do that I would ask that you put the tang on the 54 barrel... how much movement do you have? does the tang fit snuggly or does it move around abit.... Another thing that comes to mind the hook on the barrel is tapered a little bit narrow on the end slightly thicker at the barrel... so at this point I would suggest do not drive it on...
It is really interesting to me that your breech plug has the slot for the lock to fit up into as do the TC's - this is a big part of the L/R alignment... The measurement request I sent in the PM will also tell you a lot. I really suspect everything is really going to be close to the same....
Talk to you on the land line this afternonn...
mike