Researcher is it Patent No. 1,029,229 or 1,029,374 that they used on the early pin Sterlingworths? One I know was by J.C. Kremer and the one is F.T. Russell. Does one have more holding power than the other? If I am going to bite the bullet and change I better pick the best one to start with.
I did make a J spring latch today and have to say that it is decent but not what I want. Just a few more hours into my gunsmith education that I am sure will be of value someday. It does hold the fore-end on but you can feel the play and I am sure that heavy hunting loads will cause the beavertail to drop down. The harder you pull the fore-end towards receiver the less it engages the barrel.
I know that I could take the fast and easy route and add a set screw and screw the fore-end directly to the barrel loop. Plenty of metal to work with and it would be a simple matter to make a treaded bushing that I could glass bed into the fore-end wood or go through the fore-end metal and fasten it directly to the loop via a set screw. In fact if this was a clunker I just do it and use this gun as a backup gun that way. But Sterlingworths were made with much larger beavertail than mine and they do seem to stay on just fine. I think that the spring latch is just the worst system to hold this one on.
