This was definitely one of those jobs most gunsmiths would turn down, NOT because of its complexity, but simply because the juice isn’t worth the squeeze if much work needs to be done. The owner mentioned he had seen them online at $125-150, but was ok with the $165 he paid - doesn’t take many labor hours to buy it again at that price.
It’s also pretty clear these really weren’t made to be owner-serviced, despite the single thumbscrew for removing the barreled action from the stock. Almost all of the pins holding the carrier assembly and the bolt assembly together were staked, and the whole thing really only fits together if you hold your tongue just so... I can’t imagine how many of these would have walked into gunsmith shops, disassembled in a box, after owners had attempted to tear them down. I ended up using a slave pin and a 3rd hand to reassemble the carrier assembly into the housing - I have to think there’s an easier way, but I sure couldn’t come up with it.
I ended up lapping out the chamber last night, it’s not perfect, but at least it seems to let go of dummy rounds freely. I also replaced the trigger reset spring last night, the factory spring was damaged, slightly, but worse, the spring itself promoted just under 3lbs of trigger pull, contributing to a 7lb trigger (extremely positive angle sear). Swapping to a “mystery spring from the mystery spring drawer which happened to fit” reduced the trigger pull from the spring alone to just over a pound, cutting the total pull to right about 4.5lbs.
Examining the stock again yesterday as well, I decided to forego epoxy bedding. I ran the idea by the owner, and he is content with the idea of remembering to simply finger tighten the takedown screw, with the option of getting the shotgun back a few days earlier. The carrier assembly and recoil lug arrangement are relatively unique, such the action inlet is a gaping hole... my prep work to blind all of the necessary holes and crevices to prevent physical lock-in with the epoxy bedding was going to be substantial, with the end result likely being dubious at best. Better certainly, but not “good” without doing considerable structural build up in the stock. So I skim bedded the recoil lug to hopefully prevent cracking of the stock with use, and will leave it be.