Original front base bases can be found from time to time. They can be polished mirror bright – I’ve done it for a CMP Criterion barrel I left in the white. They can be silver soldered to a dovetail cut atop the barrel – I’ve done it three times. It’s not easy, not cheap and luck played no small part in my successes. When done it should match the plating fairly well. Some plated rifles can be fired and some should never – the metal testing required to prove one way or the other is way out of the question. The risk is in the possibility of hydrogen embrittlement (   (You need to Login). Now some rifles are triple-chrome-plated at a bumper shop and some are simply nickel plated by a gunsmith; most are likely somewhere in the middle. I believe I have one of each. The one I believe is simply nickel plated has a breach still appearing in the white as does the bore and it came to me as a “shooter” and it shoots regular loads very well – I’ve shot it several times however I do not use the “chromed” bolt for shooting. The one believe is truly chrome plated has breech and bore clearly affected by the plating and I’d dare not shoot it for recreational purposes (bore is awesome though). I have since given up bringing mine to the range because of the heckling I get on the above issues – I’ll take it to the woods though and use light loads. The unanswerable question beforehand: how many rounds does it take for an embrittled part to fail? Always assess risk. And hey, strapping it to a tree and firing it with rope pull the first several times would really not be a ridiculous idea if it came to mind.