I agree with Eric, there is a lot to be said for gut instinct in this hobby, most of the time if you get a funny feeling about a rifle there is a good chance it is warranted. It’s very good that you did post it though because there are some odd ones out there, combine that with extremely varied production nuances between makers and eras and it makes for an extremely broad learning curve. I doubt he will want to come down to the value range of what it’s actually worth with the already known issues. Add the stock to that which definitely needs more inspection.
The only thing I can say for certain here is that there are many bad rifles in that book, that’s being pretty kind actually. One of our members actually recently pointed out a completely faked rifle in there that was sitting there in plain sight the whole time, I don’t own the book and cant remember the rifle or page though.
** Agree with Craig too**
