Quote Originally Posted by Merc View Post
I know the feeling. Being able to check barrel condition is the reason I'll never buy a rifle online. I have to see it in person.

The dealer I bought my early Winchester from also had several Eddystones for sale. I looked at all the barrels and the only barrel that had a good amount of rifling remaining was on the Winchester with a low serial number. It was missing two easily replaced external parts and had a replacement stock that's in nice shape. I wound up replacing all the E and R stamped parts except the E bolt and it turned out to be a great shooter.

I made an offer that was substantially less than the asking price. We met half way. He was happy and so was I. The point is, once you find a rifle that you want, make an offer. The asking price is almost always higher than what the seller is willing to accept. All they can say is no. If the price is firm, they'll tell you. Then you'll need to decide if the rifle is worth the money.
Why I go to great effort to photograph rifling when I put it on the net.