Boy this is going to start a fight but I will tell you something, Classisioi, the 21 was not the only gun that people preferred a BTFE. Most people everywhere want BTFE on ALL guns. This board is about the only place where you will find people who want a skimpy little forend on a SXS. I have never been able to figure it out myself. Who wants to hunt with a gun holding onto the barrels? They get hot, your hands get sweaty to the point where they slide on the barrels and quickly wear the bluing off. Oh, that's right, let's wear gloves and let your hands get so sweaty that the dye seeps through them and stains the wood on a nice gun. (My buddy has two big red handprints on his $7,000.00 gun from those expensive BA gloves. There is no way to get it off since it has been absorbed past the varnish, into the wood. He hates it when we call his gun, "BIG RED".) They have even come up with this clumsy whatever it is (?) to clamp over the forend so you can hold onto the gun. Hey!! How about a BTFE to begin with, guy? Nothing worse than looking over a beautiful Parker or LC Smith and then looking down at the forend and seeing this teeny forend that is too small for a nine year old to hang on to. WOMAN'S GUN!! Look at how gracious a forend looks with all that beautiful checkering to match the buttstock. It shows class and craftsmanship. Then look at a SXS with a toothpick for a forend and you have to wonder what someone was thinking when they made the gun, "Hey Bob, that gun has to be out by Tuesday so just wittle down that skimpy piece of Birch over there in the corner, stick some brass thing-a-ma-jig on it and slap it on the gun. Hopefully no one will ever notice if we pretty up the rest of the gun, right?" Did you ever notice people call them splinter forends? That pretty much speaks for itself. You want to know what really burns my butt? I can't even put a SXS with a splinter forend in my safe without touching the barrels after I just wiped it off with an oily rag. Go figure. Good luck.
