Cutis,
Nice save on that rifle. Correcting mistakes is an important part of gun building. In this case your mistakes made a better craftsman out of you.
The one tip I will give you is, if you have to put a plug in like the one you put in at the end of the barrel tang, draw your carving design first and put the plug in to match the carving. That way you are not locked in to the shape of the plug.
David Price