Great write up,,Thanks for posting.
I've owned a few over the years and they were all nice rifles. Only one was a Mod69 if I remember correctly, the others 69A's.
I took a couple that had been already butchered with D&T holes and other alterations & refinishing attempts and made them into custom sporters. There's alot of wood in those factory stocks and they can be reshaped into a really nice profile. Plug holes, checkering, ramp front site, steel butt plate & cap, sink the mag plate & trigger guard ends into the wood, etc. Alot of work for little return but it was fun back then.

Had one that used to pierce the brass upon firing once in a while and spit some gas and brass back at you. Some work on the firing pin tip profile fixed that easily. The sharper than necessary tip was probably another persons attempt at improving something that didn't need any.