A good friend of mine is new to fine doubles and recently picked up a nice English box lock. The gun is in good repair and approximately 90yrs old. It is ever so slightly off face but he shoots it very well.
Long story short, he had it at a local gunsmith, with a good reputation but one certainly not earned working on British doubles. The friend wanted a pad ground to replace an older one and that part seemed to go fine. The gunsmith told him he might be able to "tighten up" the gun for him and I told him that was a red flag. I was very worried he would peen the hook and told him to call him immediately and ask him to just do the pad.
Well he chose to just trust the gentleman and thank good he didn't peen the hook, but...he tightend up the forend...so now it feels "tight like new when I open it but it's hard to get the forend off"
So I tried to explain to my friend that this does not do anything to rejoin his fine investment, it just increases the bearing pressure between the reciever and the forend iron along with placing alot of stress on the hook.
I explained that he may have done this by turning a threaded rod with the forend wood off and that it should really be backed off a little to prevent increased wear and possible futher damage to the gun.
The friend is still not believing this gunsmith can do any wrong...am I wrong to be concerned?
Last edited by Tim Frazier; 10/09/13 01:39 PM.
