There are basically two questions on the post that I would like to reply to: The first one is: How many hours it took for each rife. To which I am going to answer just lots as I do all my work by hand with a limited set of power tools such as a band saw, router to cut the basic shapes for the ramrod and the barrel channels and both a drill press and hand drill. All the rest of the work is done with chisels, rasps, files, hacksaws etc. The second question was whether the push button for the release was in the toe plate. The answer is no, it is in the buttplate extension.