I was facing the same thing, somewhat worn cylinders and honed twice, ridge removed and pretty big gaps, but not quite to the point of MUST bore.... And the pistons were only 3 years old (a few thousand miles) so I went with Total Seal gapless 2nd rings to minimize blowby... Maybe too late for you to change your plans though. Thought I'd throw it out there for posterity
See what the end gap is with each ring pushed down the cylinder by itself about 1" deep, use the piston to square the ring inside the cylinder. If the end gaps are identical, then maybe it doesn't matter. The only thing different would then be the pre-tension when cold. I wouldn't know for sure which one to put on top if the cross section profiles are identical. Never had this problem. All the rings I ever installed came clearly labeled 1st and 2nd groove, if memory serves.
