doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com SxS forearm lug failure

I have a SxS with a problem. The fillet in from of the lug is detaching slightly and I suspect the lug has moved slightly since the ejectors are not working properly. Gun too old for warranty repairs.

Questions-
1-What causes this? [It has happened on three other guns in the last 20 years.]
2-Can it be avoided?
3-Who might be a good choice for repairs?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

1) Reefing on the forend while shooting skeet. I have seen it many times. Relatively common problem of model 21's.
2)Yes, don't shoot premounted skeet or clays.
3)Any reputable smith that can be trusted to do soldering work on barrels.

Hello Hal,

What gun?
Soldered?
Brazed?
Welded?

Mike

Kirk Merrington

Kerrville. Tx

Clapper, how does pre-mounted skeet or clays contribute to the issue?

What is reefing on the foremd?

I expect that's a reference to putting more pressure on the forend. More likely to happen with a gun that has a beavertail because there's more grab. That being said, I recently had it happen to a Japanese-made SKB with a splinter forend. Typically with a splinter, one scarcely grips the forend, if at all. Some Brits might say that the purpose of the forend is mainly to keep the barrels attached to the receiver.

I'm sure it's just my sample size skewing my observations.
Guys take a death grip on their forend, pulling the shotgun rearward strongly into their shoulder pocket like a rifle. (Reefing) Then Twist the gun to stack the beads. And then set off a firecracker load for maximum recoil.
It results in a magnified set of forces fore and aft on the lug.

On soft soldered lugs they slowly hinge loose.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to say that is bs.
But, for me, having seen it happen many times, I started looking at the why, and the rigid shooting style popped up as a pattern.

Since there are millions of shotguns that don't come loose, maybe you need a poorly soldered lug, AND a forend reefing shooting style to tear one loose.
Big guy, small gun, reef, then field loads. Bad recipe.

Most of the U.S. doublegun makers designed some form of barrel loop support/reinforcing wedge

Hunter Arms had several variants, and this was almost universally added to LRWF and guns with a BTFE



Another simpler support



Parker, from "The Parker Story"



Lefever D



Folsom Paragon crossbolt Paragon ejector



Even lowly Crescent had a crude support

Drew, It's interesting that you had that information already collated.
Do you have any info regarding why the reinforcements were introduced?