for the life of me I can't remember where I read it, but the view was by holding onto the beaver tail forearm, you were adding to the stress on the lug when fired. The author said the forearm was to keep the barrels attached and facilitate ejectors. Obviously on O/U's I would guess almost everyone holds onto the forearm, so what I read may have been only pertaining to SxS's. I have also read guns equipped with the H&H assisted opener have something different done to the lug in order to resist the additional stress. I am guessing I read some of this on Dewey Vicknair's web site, which someone on here recently shared.
