doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Fore end iron loose

I have recently acquired a Crescent 12 bore and the fore end iron is loose on the under barrel lug. It is the type of retainer which uses a lever-like latch rather than friction and spring pressure to hold the iron to the barrels.

Any ideas for how best to snug this so it doesn’t rattle about?

First order of business is to make certain that the forend loop isn’t loose.

It is not

Remove the wood from the iron, place the iron on an anvil, strike the iron with a rounded punch at the rear of loop hole. Try it on the gun, repeat if necessary. If it is really bad ad a drop of metal with a welder.

Sweet baby Jesus don’t let JimmyW or BrentD see this post!

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You tighten the forend iron off the gun on an anvil ,I made an oval punch you strike it and check on the gun against the loup.

Many forend irons already have the “mark” on them for when they were initially fitted up to the barrels, loop & action. When you turn the iron over, there will be a line type mark….thats the mark left when the forend was peened….if it’s there already and the forend iron needs snugged up, this mark is where you place your punch.

Like many engineering processes there is always another method and I was very surprised that Jack Rowe did not mention it in those Midway videos. Maybe he wanted to keep this method in the dark well it was used to solve the fore end problem on top maker guns especially if the barrel fore end anchor point was replaced or removed for some reason. It is simple and not that obvious to the eye so it does not stand out like a punch mark. Being simple though the down side is that it is not as quick as a punch a little more work is needed. Remove fore end wood from the Iron fit the Iron onto the barrels to ascertain where the gap needs to be removed. Now that you can see where you need to take up the slack you extend the fore end iron slot buy a quarter of an inch next file up a piece of steel that will enter the slot having a small amount extending into the original slot, heat to bright red push into the slot you have made and rivet it with a hammer top and bottom, then fit iron to the gun by removing the extra metal that is now in the iron slot . Clean and polish the area apply some instant blue or just heat the area gently until you reach the desired colour. If done carefully this method leaves no marks on the Iron and no signs of the added metal.

I think what mark said above is a really good solution even with a really warn forend iron.i don't know how many people can invisibly inlay a metal piece.