Indeed snap on forends are automatically associated with lower priced guns. However, I think I have read in some older material that the snap on has the advantage of keeping pressure on the action bar and reducing the rearward forces on the face of the action. It might be that the Evans was built with this in mind. I dunno……
Snap on forends have been built by many makers, English and American. They are likely not all the same, but I did some looking into them as pertains to A H Fox guns some years ago, specifically Kremer and Russell styles, and found that the spring tensioned roller does NOT provide the pressure to keep the forend iron tight against the knuckle. It provides spring pressure UPWARDS, keeping the forend wood tight against the underside of the barrels. If the wood is still fitted as it was when it left the factory there is no way it can be fit any tighter when the forend is snapped "home", and no way for that fit to provide any significant pressure rearward. It would have to be pushing the "flat" on the front of the forend iron away from the back of the forend lug. THAT fitment is what provides the pressure to keep the rear of the forend iron tight against the action knuckle, not any spring pressure associated with the snap on design.
