doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com "Semi" Chopper Lump?

Ran across this article on the S&W guns being imported from Turkey: http://www.nrapublications.org/TAR/SWhunting.asp Question: What is "semi" chopper lump? I know what regular chopper lump barrels are, but this appears to involve brazing of the barrels on to a plate. Are there strength issues with the brazing, or is a true chopper lump construction just overkill?

As far as I know it's either a chopper lump or it isn't. Could he be talking about a dovetail lump? The usual method before the mono-bloc came into wide usage. I'd bet money it's a dove tail lump.

There are designs wherein there is a vertical plate between the barrels; the plate extends below the barrels to allow for cutting the lumps and hook. Also, there is a "shoe" method wherein the barrels sit on a horizontal plate which has the lumps and hook. For sure I wouldn't consider these methods "semi" chopper lump.

BTW, any of the lump/barrel joining methods work fine if properly done. Chopper lump has a bit of intuitive/horse sense logic that it is better. How many lump/hook failures have you heard of?

Looks like "Semi-chopper lump" is just a marketing term, taking advantage of the fact they don't have seams like a monoblock. I just wondered whether the dovetail or shoe lump methods are somehow weak. Apparently not.

I believe Parkers were made with dovetail lumps. They are certainly not weak. I agree that the "semi-chopperlump" struck my suspicion as typical BS doubletalk.