They are now having a guy come in and clean up the barrels. When they first got into the barrel biz all the barrels they sent out were like the one you described, but time constraints and lack of cheep labor cause them to quit draw filing them. Now, it seems they have a couple guys who are once again willing to draw file for cheep and thus pretty barrels again.
As for the breech plug, first they breeched them and left them, so they were extremely tight and many folks could not get them out easily. So I asked them to breech them and then back them out a couple turns to make it easier on you guys. Well, they did that for a while but then guys couldn't get them back in all the way to match the witness marks and many just decided to file the plug off until it fit the flats. Without thinking they then had a breech plug that wasn't fully seated - not good. Once the barrel owners realized this they were having to ship their barrels back to have another breech plug installed. So this last month or so it is my understanding that Rice is now breeching them, taking out the plug and then putting it back in several times before tightening them to mark. The taking the plugs in and out will help get the sticking tendencies of the plug and hopefully then they can be shipped fully seated, and yet a bit more easy for the customer to remove and install again.
