Cherry,
Take the forend off and shake the gun. You'll feel .001 every time. ........................................ The gun hammers itself apart, in short order.
Phil
Just took out all my old hammer doubles from 1900 to 1938 and checked the looseness with foreend off and lugs unlocked. All but one with a new breech face show some amount of play and a bit of rattle. Much, much less than with my "new" gun having approximately 0,003 shim needed on hook and about 0,005 inch off face. These guns have been this way for as long as I have had them and we have shot each for at least 10s and 10s of rounds of trap and SC. These are a mix of guns with cross bolts or "dolls heads" and those with only double underlugs. Some have been used heavily with CIP-spec hunting loads, usually with 28 grams shot at 1250 pfs or less, sometimes with 28-30 grams at 1300 fps. The target loads have generally been under 8K psi and 24 grams shot. I never considered these guns to be "off face" when I bought them and still do not. I sure do not expect any of them to "hammer itself apart" anytime soon.
I simply do not buy your statement that gun with 0,001 inch off face "hammers itself apart, in short order." Not with sub-CIP and CIP loads, mostly with 24 gram shot loads in 16 and 12 gauge. Maybe with "magnum" loads to SAAMI specs or handloads at SAAMI max.
Niklas
