I think my head is going to explode............(updated, sort of, post 32)

[Stevo]

The stock/handguard interference appears to have been the major issue I was up against. I managed to make a short trip to the range today before I got chased away by the incoming blizzard. I only had a chance to shoot it at 50m but it shot groups, rather than "patterns", with the best 5 shot group of 1 1/2" and nothing worse than about 2" with cheap Norinco ball.

Here's a couple of pics. The first one illustrates why I went with shaving the stock rather than the handguard and you can see the paint marks on it from the initial trials. The second shows the shaved stock. I repainted the shaved edge to make any contact more obvious.