Your second gun will be much better than the first because of the learning curve. You don't realize how many things you have learned NOT to do at this stage. I would tend to disagree with the idea that you learn how to hide your mistakes; in reality you learn how to recover from the mistakes without too much damage. For instance, you learn that a Q-tip handle will fill a misdrilled 1/16" hole. Some mistakes you can live with, some you cannot, such as inadequate sear engagement or improperly seated breech plug. Most cosmetic errors can be headed off by exercising patience. When you complete a task, take a break, sit down with your rifle and just hold it in your hands and take a good look at it. Turn it around from different angles and any little humps, bumps, hollows, tool marks, etc, circle with a pencil. As a builder we tend to see the completed gun as the sum of the parts and notice every small detail. Others seem the gun as a whole and never even notice the small things. Every gun you build will be better and you will start to see errors that you had overlooked previously. You can sell off guns that no longer please you and other owners will be perfectly content with them, but never, ever sell your first build. No matter what it may look like to you, it will still always be your first, and nothing will ever change that.
