Not to be a detail Nazi. Beretta refers to their stainless guns as INOX. Im assuming you want a silver one when you say stainless. 615 is a pretty dang good price. I recently picked up a 92 Brigadier INOX. its essentially athicker slide on a regular frame. Also something to consider is the...
Blue label is open to Military and first responders. The gun cases are actually sold as blue label so the PX wouldn't match. Prices are a lot better. Glock 17 runs 425 with 3 mags.
I was there a few days ago. they have been selling quite a few pistols. And I don't think they are reordering inventory because they had far less than they used to have. I heard it is a lot of retirees going in there and buying it up. It always makes me laugh when they sells glocks at retail...
What are your challenges with the semi auto you feel would be fixed witha revolver? if your just worried about racking the slide there are options to assist with that.
I really don't think you will learn any more about the platform from milling it yourself. HBAR are still in effect for an 80% lower right. And couldn't we buy stripped lowers in VA legally to build pistols or hbars with?