So, Sebago, did you contact Jim Rodgers and buy his nickel box?
Last December I was happily hiking a gun show when I was mugged at the end of the first aisle. It was GF, and he wanted to talk. As we were politely "BSing", along came a guy with a 4" blue gun. It was a 44 Military. He wanted $900, so I offered him $800, as tradition and morality in gun buying demanded. He said $850 and I was pealing $100 bills. It all shocked GF who had a little trouble believing I'd do it that quickly. Another rule of gun buying is to never hesitate when you see a deal.
Then I decided I needed a box for my gun. So I stopped at a friends table and asked him. He had one, but it was for a nickel 4" M1950. Not a problem for me, he said he'd bring it to the next show in a few weeks. I brought my agreed upon trade, as did he. Then a month later he gave me a phone call, telling me to bring the nickel box back, he had blue box for me. So we traded boxes. And Sebago Son was sent the contact information so he could try to pry it loose.
So now I've got a "shooter" in a correct box. And I'm a happy camper, more or less.
From reading Bettis's posts over the years, I could tell he had some common sense. His early post to this thread confirms it.
But I have a slightly different opinion on shooting collectors guns. What I've seen over the years is shooting a few rounds, or even a few cylinders full doesn't hurt the gun or the condition. Of course you use modest loads. Then you clean it, just like you were taught, until it looks like it did before you fired it. It takes a pretty good expert to tell if its been fired or not. If you want to be real sneaky (something I excel at) you look at your cylinder to see where the factory fired every other chamber. Then you load them, not the virginal ones.
Then even a quick and dirty cleaning won't disclose a second round of firing.
Finding these guns is so rare you probably can't be too choosy. When you see one, you jump. If you hesitate, all is lost. Just ask GF.