Tarbe - sorry to hear of the lousy job the smith did. I hope you can find a solution.
Ron - your pics of original M71’s show how when Winchester switched to the short tang they also moved the point of the comb forward. IMO this was a bad move as the hand is now crowded by the point of the comb. On my Browning, which copied Winchester’s short tang design, I had the point of the comb moved back to create a much more comfortable grip.
