Hi 4 Scale,
Well, I'm happy you see my point! My shooter is all matching like yours, except now for the broken HO. The gun has obviously been refinished- (therefore regarded as a shooter by any "serious" collector)- a very nice refinishing job BTW. I'm keeping that broken part in any case.
As you must know, matching parts = better functioning, in general, but there are many non matching shooters out there which function very well.
Looking at it another way, you can obtain a nonmatching shooter very easily! Just shoot yours until a numbered part breaks and replace it with (of course) a non matching part.
I have fussed enough about this, yes it's annoying, but otherwise one never shoots these special firearms. No I'm not going to shoot an original finish, matching collector. Forget that! But my shooter now hasn't lost THAT much value, and I bought it to shoot!!
I know exactly how you feel
