doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Bottom rib trouble

I think Hal Hare has had 2 if not 3 CSMC 21's pull the lug loose. I can think of a bunch more I've seen at my club, not just 21's.

I don't know if it's the forward, or the backward push of the recoil cycle that does it.

That was my guess as well when I saw the picture but one thing that I do know...and I have it from a good source...is that many of those production guns even though soft soldered were actually hot blued.
I had an early Piotti in here that suffered from that same ailment.

all best

CJ

Seems like a lot of folks have seen this problem. I have had two guns with loose ribs. One a Fox with a loose rib near the forend lug another time loose at the muzzle. These did not require any attention to the lug, which is still fine.

An Ithaca Flues had a sprung bottom rib near the muzzle which a friend (gunsmith school graduate) relayed well.

And my two rib fixes did not require reblueing the barrels.

There's clearly a tendency to put more pressure on the lug when you're shooting a gun with a beavertail than with a splinter--where you're scarcely gripping the forend. Miller's explanation seems to make sense . . . but maybe there's an advantage to a splinter that doesn't often get advertised.

I shot a Browning BSS Side-lock that I just bought for the first time this morning. After four shots the fore-end popped off and won't go back on. Hopefully it is just a snafu that will be solved by more familiarity with the gun, but this thread gives me a bad feeling. I'm looking hard at the bottom rib right now and see nothing wrong. I hope it just needs to be re-cocked or something...Geo

This is all very interesting to me. I cannot imagine gripping a forend of any profile so tightly that you risk recoil pulling the lug loose. The purpose of a beavertail profile is not to help tame recoil, it is to keep your fingers off of hot barrels, IMO. I do not hold my shotguns that tightly at the forend, but espouse to the old .38 Special rock song ............. "Hold On Loosely". The only job my forehand has is to move the muzzles to wherever I want them, not to help attenuate recoil. I use the rear hand a little more for that, holding the gun's grip just tightly enough to control it in recoil. But, I tend to let the gun recoil freely, not attempting to manhandle it. One sensation I notice often, when shooting pairs, is that of the gun recoiling after the first shot and having to be brought back into control before the second shot. It's not nearly as severe as it might sound, but I do notice the gun "moving around" in my hands under recoil.

SRH

Another cause of a loose forend lug is lack of or an improperly fitted barrel check. The lack is most apt to be found on a hammer gun. I have an H Pieper Modified Diana hammer gun which has a loose lug & section of under rib which is no doubt from this cause. It was like that when I acquired it, very cheaply with intentions of practising a bit of re-laying, just never got to it.
Anyway the only thing which stops the rotation of the barrels on this gun is the rear bottom of the forend iron contacting the bottom of the frame bar. If you apply the least amount of force here tremendous forward pressure is placed on the forend lug, far more than could ever be done by gripping the forend against recoil Even with a barrel check if the barrel motion is not halted prior to the forend iron contacting the frame the check is of no value, its just along for the ride.

Miller,

I agree with the barrel check not doing its job and will add that a good many of the guns with a "J" spring latch are fitted way too tight and can cause the lug weld to fail over time. Also the practice of SLAPPING the forend on is abusive to both the lug and the wood.

John

It was my impression loop was usually brazed on these .That said I have seen and relayed. lot of loose ribs on Italian guns Perazzi was a good example with the vented side ribs .These seemed to suffer from a severe lack of solder ,I suppose so as not to get excess unsightly blobs that could be seen through the vents . Beretta's seemed to have plenty but it had not been hot enough to adhere properly ,it did seem to take a lot more heat than normal to un-solder , weather this was "lead free" solder I dont know .