I have recently acquired a Crescent 12 bore and the fore end iron is loose on the under barrel lug. It is the type of retainer which uses a lever-like latch rather than friction and spring pressure to hold the iron to the barrels.

Any ideas for how best to snug this so it doesn’t rattle about?

First order of business is to make certain that the forend loop isn’t loose.

It is not

Remove the wood from the iron, place the iron on an anvil, strike the iron with a rounded punch at the rear of loop hole. Try it on the gun, repeat if necessary. If it is really bad ad a drop of metal with a welder.

Sweet baby Jesus don’t let JimmyW or BrentD see this post!

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You tighten the forend iron off the gun on an anvil ,I made an oval punch you strike it and check on the gun against the loup.

Many forend irons already have the “mark” on them for when they were initially fitted up to the barrels, loop & action. When you turn the iron over, there will be a line type mark….thats the mark left when the forend was peened….if it’s there already and the forend iron needs snugged up, this mark is where you place your punch.

Like many engineering processes there is always another method and I was very surprised that Jack Rowe did not mention it in those Midway videos. Maybe he wanted to keep this method in the dark well it was used to solve the fore end problem on top maker guns especially if the barrel fore end anchor point was replaced or removed for some reason. It is simple and not that obvious to the eye so it does not stand out like a punch mark. Being simple though the down side is that it is not as quick as a punch a little more work is needed. Remove fore end wood from the Iron fit the Iron onto the barrels to ascertain where the gap needs to be removed. Now that you can see where you need to take up the slack you extend the fore end iron slot buy a quarter of an inch next file up a piece of steel that will enter the slot having a small amount extending into the original slot, heat to bright red push into the slot you have made and rivet it with a hammer top and bottom, then fit iron to the gun by removing the extra metal that is now in the iron slot . Clean and polish the area apply some instant blue or just heat the area gently until you reach the desired colour. If done carefully this method leaves no marks on the Iron and no signs of the added metal.

I think what mark said above is a really good solution even with a really warn forend iron.i don't know how many people can invisibly inlay a metal piece.

I'd bet the Nutty Professor saw it, but got vapor-locked, and couldn't respond.

Mark's method is the "school solution" and the "punch" is easy to make, just grind the end of a small cold chisel to a rounded profile while keeping it cool and polish it. There should be no mark on the side that is visible. This can make the gun a little hard to open, but it will wear in after some use.
Mike

Could someone post a close up pic of the tip shape of the punch one would use to do this? If you cannot due to an inability to post pics on this forum you may alternatively send it to me at stanhillis@gmail.com. and I will post it.

Thanks.

Stan,
I don't have one on hand, I just used one in Walter Grass' shop, and I think he has passed on. If I had a need for one, I would just take a cold chisel, about as wide as the forearm iron, and round off /polish the chisel edge so it would pein rather than cut the metal.
Mike

Mike, as wide as the entire forend iron, or as wide as the slot

As wide as the slot

That's what I was thinking but wanted to be sure. Thanks, Mark.

Would this one be a candidate for grinding into shape? Sure seems small to me, but I never use it for anything else anyway. It's being held sideways ..... if viewed after a 90 degree rotation from this you could see that the end is about 1/4" wide, and could be easily ground to the width of the slot.

Stan,
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some gunsmiths used a punch only as wide as the slot (making a bulge within the slot), but the ones I learned from were of the "school" that used a punch about as wide as the whole iron on the breach side of the slot. This had the effect of stretching the iron, moving the slot itself toward muzzle. Keep in mind that only a few thousandths of an inch movement are necessary.
Mike

These forend irons are off of two British guns. A Greener G gun that I bought for parts and a Charles Osborne that I’m currently working on. These pics are of the underside of the irons, showing where the factory “peen” marks are that were made by a shaped punch and a heavy hammer when fitting up the forend irons and then used for subsequent tightening.

Osborne


Greener

That salvo of ball-peen marks, though... Any idea what that's all about?

Have no idea. This was a strictly a parts gun. It’s over 125 years old. No idea why it has those marks. I was posting pics to show people what the forend tightening peen marks looks like. Disregard all of the other things going on….concentrate on the red arrows. There’s obviously not that many folks here that know what marks to look for, where they’re located and how they are used as a landmark in the trade to tighten a forend.

Thanks a bunch, Dustin, for those pics. That perfectly illustrates the process. A picture truly can be worth a thousand words.

Stan,
Maybe it a difference between common British shop practice and common German shop practice.
Mike

American guns are adjusted the same way as Dustin is showing in the pictures.

The ball-peen marks are from someone trying to stretch the metal tighter to the opening.

Merci. Hopefully not during initial factory assembly.

Of course fudd no consumer would do that only the factory:)