Interchangeable?
 

On Parker Reproductions, is the forend iron interchangeable between splinter and beavertail forends?

I recall at least two individuals here that reported installing beavertail wood onto their 28-ga. splinter forend iron. Neither mentioned any problems with them.

I was one of those two individuals.

The BTFE from Kathy's 28 gauge Repro fits my 28 gauge Repro perfectly, and vice versa, and mine came with a splinter. Both have 26" barrels.

However, the question may be "can the wood be successfully interchanged on a forend iron?" I can't answer that question.

Actually Dean, you weren't one of them that I was referring to. The guys I'm talking about actually removed the wood from their gun's existing splinter forend irons and then installed new beavertail wood onto that same existing forend iron.

Oops... Sorry.

I cannot say for sure. But... If the forend irons are the same as original Meriden irons, then no. BTFE irons are about 1/4" to 3/8" longer than splinter forends.

I have the same recollection as Greg. Maybe those who made those comments were mistaken about whether forend to gun or wood to metal was being discussed. Maybe someone has had a couple of guns apart and know more than we do.

If we could get Pat Dugan to tell us about swapping his Repro's splinter wood for a Repro beavertail and mounting it on his Repro iron and then if we could get Karl Ferguson (classicoi) to tell us about removing his Repro splinter wood and retrofitting an original Parker Bros. beavertail to his Repro iron we'll all be a little more informed.

Forend iron lengths should be all you need to know.

I can provide any information anyone may need on Meriden forend irons. I have stripped variations of all types. Ejector splinter, extractor, splinter and even a BTFE ejector iron.

I checked out what I could here based on what parts I have.

Here is a photo showing the measurement I am taking. Basically it is the length of the inletting in the forend.

Attachment 37943

Early Meriden extractor splinter: 4-5/8 - 4-3/4"
Later Meriden extractor splinter: 4-1/2"
Meriden ejector splinter: 4-1/2"
Meriden ejector Beavertail: 5"
Reproduction ejector: 4-1/2"
And, while we are at it, single barrel trap with draw bolt forend: 5"

About the only thing that I can confirm from what I have here is that Meriden and Repro forend tang lengths within the ejector splinter category are the same. I would suppose that the BTFE irons are the same from Meriden to Reproductions. Maybe someone can measure the length of their Repro BTFE iron and confirm in the tang is in fact 5" long?

The extra length on the Beavertail irons is to make adequate room for the draw bolt to thread in. Since the forward latch screw is only a littl over 1/4" from the end of the tang on a splinter forend.