Current project gun is a Fox pin gun, #5139X, 1 weight barrels, 30", Miller trigger, Choked .025 and .042 with a restock that fits me well., It is going to be a backup gun for this Falls trip into Canada. Bought it for a very decent price knowing that the for-end would not stay on the gun.
I am at a cross roads. It has the early J shape spring fore-arm and a very thin beaver-tail. Best guess is that the J spring was not holding the fore-end on so someone started working on it. He has filed it down and bent the spring and the turned it into scrap. Now I can make another J spring latch but is that going to cure the problem? I suspect that the stress on the loop needed to keep a J hook engaged, with a beaver-tail, is the real problem. It might not be possible to use a J latch with a beaver-tail. Recoil causes the fore-end to pop off too easily. No hand on the barrels to help reduce the problem.
So I can make the latch and find out or consider other options. I guess that I could convert to a Deely-type latch or a Kremer-type roller latch. I do not want to replace the loop unless I have no other choice. So neither of these will be that easy but both look possible. Question is will a roller type snap on fore-end stand up to heavy recoil and a beaver-tail foe-end or am I stuck going to a Deely fore-end?
