Thankyou Phil,
The nose had been blasted many months ago, and I had asked them to weld several areas also, for exactly the reasons you indicated.
Here's where the problem lies: When I asked them to weld, I hadn't yet bought a welder and did not expect to do so in near future. They did as I had requested, BUT remember I had sent panel there to be blasted. Because it was 'au naturale' when it left my hands, I didn't know that the panels where headlights attach had filler below each headlight hole. So when they welded, as per my instructions, they had in fact secured both front panels in a position that I would later need to have adjusted!
Thats a long winded way of saying I have to cut welds, move areas of those panels forward (maybe 1/8in only) to avoid need for the masses of filler previously used.
Moral of the story: Don't get ahead of yourself. I was young then, now i'm much wiser
I plan to spray certain areas underneath with a body sealer also.
P.S: Did you see I did actually get back to you re dimensions for the rifle butt cups? It was maybe a week of two ago.