Heres a follow-up of on the sticking issue but first, those are great pix!!! Fortunately I took it to a gunsmith and it was very difficult to break it free but he did eventually get off. The tube itself was clean which was a surprise. The problem was the cap that the shell would push back, guess thats called the follower was deformed, had a small burr on it. The gunsmith removed it and polished it back up and now the movement is very smooth, smoother than it was from day 1.