Not by the hairs on my Chin-Chin either. Your Gough Thomas praised the great American perfect repeater- our Winchester M12-and to follow his path- I prefer my Model 12's pre-WW2 vintage, with the field 18 ring "corncob' forearm- later field M12's in the 1950's went to a form of modified beavertail, but with the rings- and of course, the Trap and Skeet M12's made after 1935 almost always had bigger forearms as std. issue-

I have only owned and shot one American side-by-side with an after market beavertail style forearm- a re-done-over 12 AH Fox HE--and I reshaped it to a modified splinter. For my size and build, I do not have large hands, and I agree with the others whom have previously posted herein- the closer I can get my left (barrel or leading hand- my right does the trigger work)to the barrel (M12) or barrels- (side-by-side) the more control I feel I have over the shotgun, and the better I shoot it--

The "status" of a fine British SLE with a straight hand grip and a splinter forearm cannot be denied I suppose- but also- "form follows function" and there would not have been so many of them made in that configuration if their owners could not use them efficiently afield--

"The field is the touchstone of the man"..