doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Thoughts on Snap Catch Forends and Reproofed Chamb

I’m looking at a Wm Evans (from Purdey’s) 32” hammergun made in 1915 for pigeon shooting. The gun was completely refurbished 20+ years ago in England and the owner has documentation for all work performed. Specifically, 2.5” chambers were lengthened to 2.75” and reproofed. Also, the Forend is a snap-on, which I associate with lower end guns. This gun checks all the boxes, but am I wrong to assume higher end guns should not have snap catch forends? I’m not keen on the lengthened chambers but it was done in accordance with British proof laws. Thanks for any input.

Indeed snap on forends are automatically associated with lower priced guns. However, I think I have read in some older material that the snap on has the advantage of keeping pressure on the action bar and reducing the rearward forces on the face of the action. It might be that the Evans was built with this in mind. I dunno……

Regarding lengthened chambers, I too would prefer them left original but nothing wrong with the lengthening. To err on the cautious side I’d keep my longer ammunition pressures within the new proof limits.

I would ask: what is it about the gun that the seller is saying it was made as a pigeon gun? I imagine a lot of so called pigeon guns are just heavier shotguns, perhaps made for waterfowl or mixed bags.

Snap on forends have been built by many makers, English and American. They are likely not all the same, but I did some looking into them as pertains to A H Fox guns some years ago, specifically Kremer and Russell styles, and found that the spring tensioned roller does NOT provide the pressure to keep the forend iron tight against the knuckle. It provides spring pressure UPWARDS, keeping the forend wood tight against the underside of the barrels. If the wood is still fitted as it was when it left the factory there is no way it can be fit any tighter when the forend is snapped "home", and no way for that fit to provide any significant pressure rearward. It would have to be pushing the "flat" on the front of the forend iron away from the back of the forend lug. THAT fitment is what provides the pressure to keep the rear of the forend iron tight against the action knuckle, not any spring pressure associated with the snap on design.

Just to prove that there is nothing fixed in gun history, I worked on a Purdey hammergun with a snap forend catch not so many years back. It was contemporary with other Purdeys I have worked on with either Anson and wedge forends.
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