If, that IS an actual Ellwood Epps conversion, you have a gem. He was an opinionated, rather arrogant old geezer, thot he knew all about guns, etc. but, while he could be a total PITA and often was, he was a very good smith.
His L-E conversions, especially, were very advanced and worked well, he built some fine rifles.
Your reference to cold weather hunting made me chuckle as we always hunted deer in BC in late November into mid-December and it was COLD, sometimes below zero. We liked the L-E because it worked so well in such conditions and we always seemed to get our game with them.
