Everything has been going well with the inletting process till I started to notice a few things. I've got a bit of a twist going on when I tap the barrel in place to get good contact with the black it twists a hair. As my progress has gone on I've done what I thought was right and just removed the black areas with my chisel. Sounds easy enough eh? The black on the barrel and what is smudged on the wood made it hard to see the gap developing at the rear 1/3 of the barrel. I found it with a flash light. Everywhere else is good. Well at least it's a consistent 1/32" or so. Consistency is what I've been striving for!!! I have full contact with the bottom flat for the first 2" and sporadic for the first 1/3 of the barrel. I really don't know how I did it. I just scraped the black off. Will I need to do something to fix this or once it's full down in the stock will it look better?
One thing to remember about blackening and cutting in inlays, including barrels... the black will continue to show long past the point you should have stopped. One must continually check progress as you work, this might mean, and often does, removing all black to check where you are at. I know this because...
Rich Peirce's remarks are the right fix for your current gaps and twist btw. Keep that barrel in the stock when you aren't working on it.
Also, do not expect to get total barrel to wood contact all along the length of the barrel, just make sure you have some contact, especially at the breech and muzzle ends.
You're doing fine, don't become discouraged.
dave