This should get complicated quickly.

On vintage American doubles, many times the early stock dimensions had 3"+ drop at comb.
And, the action straps (as well as the trigger plate) are curved to accommodate the stock drop.

On occasion, I have read reference to bending the action straps upward, taking some of the drop out of the system when restocking.

Would anyone care to talk about How this might be done? or the pitfalls it may contain?

Clearly the hand pin has to be one such issue to resolve if one bends the straps.

I have done it more than once. I always anneal first. Check the distance between the top tang and bottom at both the hand and wrist pins. You may need to bend the sear arms as well. Be mindful of the safety and the fact that the trigger blades must have some play before they contact the sears. I quite often see guns where a ham handed trigger job has left the sears pre-loaded by the rigger blades creating a very scary situation. You can use either a lead hammer or raw hide. I like lead better. Be careful to support things in a way that the bend does not happen all at the hand pin hole. I'm sure others will have some input. Best of luck with it.
Steve

It can be done BUT each job has its own problems ,the amount of heat that has to be applied and how the straps was set in the first place , not to mention the thickness of the strap and if the action body and trigger plate was forged or cast ,The effect it will have on the lever work and any work attache to the straps .Trigger and sears dependent on single or double trigger .

There is always a risk with work of this kind and that risk is on the owner not the man doing the work , the cost may also have to be some what open ended as its the sort of work that may take more time than originally thought ,or may be less .

It can be done BUT each job has its own problems ,the amount of heat that has to be applied and how the straps was set in the first place , not to mention the thickness of the strap and if the action body and trigger plate was forged or cast ,The effect it will have on the lever work and any work attache to the straps .Trigger and sears dependent on single or double trigger .

There is always a risk with work of this kind and that risk is on the owner not the man doing the work , the cost may also have to be some what open ended as its the sort of work that may take more time than originally thought ,or may be less .

I'm looking at doing this on an Ithaca Flues lightweight 12.
The shotgun has no real value. Typical Flues broken stock, etc.

A barn find.

I'll try to post a picture in a bit.
For those that know the Flues, please don't say anything more until I get some pictures up.
I'd like the input from our friends across the pond, and I don't want their judgement clouded by additional info.

Also,
I want to get final stock dimensions closer to my needed dimensions, maintaining a somewhat open pistol grip, think Woodward grip.

That the reason for my thread, and, why I picked the Flues for this.