The screw to the rear of the forend iron on early 21's is pulling in the wrong direction. It was an attempt to keep the back end of the forend iron tight against the wood to the rear, and the design was conducive to cracking the very thin part of the wood in the inlet there. The later design with the brace in front of the forend iron is much superior because it keeps things together when the entire forearm wants to move forward as the gun recoils backwards.
I replaced the early design on my 21 that's used extensively for sporting clays and haven't had a problem with cracking anywhere. If you shoot your gun now and then you won't have a problem with either, but for extensive use at clays you'd be better off with the brace design. Silvers
