After all the good advice you offered, I looked around and found a White Mountain carbine at Cherrys for $95, with the condition described at "It looks like it's been fired once and improperly cleaned. All that's in the barrel is dust".

It arrived today and I think it was a good purchase. I think they used some salesmanship on me, though, as it appears to have been fired quite a bit, and the barrel was full of crud. The pseudo-case colored lock is missing a thumbnail sized section of finish, and the hammer needs attention at the "cup", where it has rolled.

I took it apart, cleaned a huge amount of crud out of and off the barrel, outside in the sunlight where I could see significant freckling on the sights and across the top of the barrel. Barrel discharge was flaky, grainy, and sludgy. The lock assembly was full of shmutz as well. After cleaning everything, I used boiling water from my favorite electric kettle to rinse, hand dried, and left everything in the scorching Iowa sun to dry for a few minutes before oiling 'em up. The barrel needs more work, but not today.

The trigger is heavy, and I see a few surfaces that will benefit from light stoning.

The rifle throws to my shoulder nicely. With the shorter barrel and octagon to round profile, the balance point is about half way between the lock and rear sight.

Overall, it seems like a fair deal so far. Despite the condition not being as advertised, it's still pretty good, and I intend to hunt with it, so as long as it shoots reliably and accurately, a few dings and bruises don't bother me. I have a jug of .54 minie ball type bullets and a few pounds of 2F crying out for use, but it will have to wait until our medical issue is clarified.

Thanks for the tips!