[velocette]

Folks, thanks for the suggestions.
the pistol is now in northern NY with my brother.
In two months he will return to south Florida for his
winter 6 months & bring the pistol with him.
At that time I will VERY carefully remove the wedge
and look at the underside of the barrels.
And just incidentally gently clean the metal and wood
parts of the rust and dirt. NO removal of patina just the
obvious surface rust. Then coat it with a bit of Eezox
to preclude future rust.
I'll re-post then.

Roger