Thanks for your kind words.  I took a look at the front sight.  The pin is missing and it looks like they brazed or welded the sight to the barrel.  The good part is that they moved it back slightly so if I replace the current 1903 front sight and put it in the correct position it will cover the damage caused by removing the current one. Any suggestions for removing so as to cause the least damage?

I wish whomever shortened the barrel on my fake carbine had done as nice a job with the crown as they did on this one.

Is 26" a common shortened barrel length?  Just trying to get a feel for whether it was probably shortened by Bannerman, Stokes, or Bubba!