Thoughts on this...

[Walt Kowalski]

I fired my reproduction for the first time yesterday...took out all my shotguns and threw some hand clays with my girlfriend.
Came time to shoot the Reproduction and she was fine...broke the 1st 6 clays then something weird happened...well not really weird, but the shells did not eject upon opening and I noticed forearm had become dislodged slightly (still in place).
I snapped the forearm back into place and all was well until I fired a couple more shots and she dislodged again...seems like the forearm doesn't quite lock in as nicely as it should.
Well, not knowing how many rounds were fired through her before my ownership or how well she was cleaned, I suspected there might have been some gumming up of the latch mechanism. Thorough cleaning when I got back home and I paid some attention to that latch by squirting some Breakfree CLP oil into the metal parts...very little but enough to give them a coating.
I worked the latch a couple dozen times and it seemed to be operating a bit more free than before...won't know until I fire it again.
I cannot see any flaws/burrs on any metal parts or anything unusual about the forearm mechanism except that there is a small metal part that seems to be kind of free floating near where the forearm mates to the barrels...I don't dare take the forearm apart as it seems there's quite a few metal parts to it...please advise if you may have any ideas!

[CHE]

Walt don't be afraid to take it apart. Two small screws in the back and two screws on top and carefully tap the iron up first then back and out. Just use screwdrivers that fit.

[Walt Kowalski]

Originally Posted by tom leshinsky

Walt don't be afraid to take it apart. Two small screws in the back and two screws on top and carefully tap the iron up first then back and out. Just use screwdrivers that fit.

Okay, I probably should have mentioned that this is a beaver tail forend...any differences between this and the splinter? There is a large screw at the muzzle end of the forearm which appears may be very long...sorry I didn't mention this before...

[John Liles]

Hello Walt,
Hopefully this wont apply in this case, but before you disassemble the fore end, look closely at the fore end lug connection to the barrels. I've resoldered a few that have become loose and caused the same symptoms that you report. The lug will probably not even appear loose, and the barrels will still ring, but the solder may have failed allowing the lug to rotate slightly. The typical indication of the condition will have the lug appearing solid with no solder visible on the muzzle end of the lug, with a visible linear transition to shiny solder seen at the receiver end of the lug, where the rear end of the lug has lifted slightly.
John

[Walt Kowalski]

Originally Posted by John Liles

Hello Walt,
Hopefully this wont apply in this case, but before you disassemble the fore end, look closely at the fore end lug connection to the barrels. I've resoldered a few that have become loose and caused the same symptoms that you report. The lug will probably not even appear loose, and the barrels will still ring, but the solder may have failed allowing the lug to rotate slightly. The typical indication of the condition will have the lug appearing solid with no solder visible on the muzzle end of the lug, with a visible linear transition to shiny solder seen at the receiver end of the lug, where the rear end of the lug has lifted slightly.
John

Thank you!
I'll check this out!

[Walt Kowalski]

John, Here are some pictures of the lug area...if you can spot anything please advise...it looks pretty solid to me!
Any idea what the little hole is for??
Oops...must have missed the part where you said the rear portion may have lifted...I'm assuming the muzzle end of the lug is the front??

[John Liles]

Hello again Walt. Nice pic's! The Parkers that I've worked on were not Repros.
Does the lug on a Repro transition in height? It may just be the flash, but the lug appears to sit higher towards the rear, but maybe not if the lug itself is taller toward the rear. The last Parker that I worked on that had a loose/rotated lug was a 20 gauge, and when properly repositioned the top surface of the lug base was parallel and in contact with the adjacent barrel sides. Perhaps another member that has a Repro or two will chime in with a comparison of how yours looks to one that he owns.
I do see shiny solder, which I would think would not be visible after rust blueing, leading me to think that maybe the lug has been repaired in the past. There again, I don't know what the assembly should look like on a repro.
There are varying opinions as to the purpose of the small hole in the bottom rib. I've seen some original Parkers that had no holes, and some that did. One prevelant theory is that the hole allowed for the air to escape from the rib cavity during the boiling process of rust bluing. The expansion of the air due to heating was feared to cause the soft soldered ribs to pop off. Others will likely chime in with better opinions! I've heard that Parker Bros was able to rust blue their barrels without the holes, and that any hole in a Parker rib was a sure sign of a non-Parker re-blue. I'm pretty much a Parker novice, and I hope to hear the opinions of others more in-the-know!
John

[Chuck Heald]

Some theorize that ribs with no holes had the muzzle end left not soldered shut until after blueing. It's certainly possible to solder the end shut after blueing and not affect the blueing.

[John Liles]

Hello Walt, in re-examining your pictures this morning it appears to me that that the stub rib located between the lug and barrel flats is integral with the lug. LC Smith guns had the same treatment for their 3" and sometimes Trap grade guns. The treatment was a great way to prevent lug rotation in guns that were likely to be used hard or fire 3" shells. The height difference between the front and back of your lug appears to be a function of design, and if the stub rib is still securely attached, then your lug should be in its original position, provided the shiny solder we see is not an indication of a repair that wasn't properly positioned. I'd start looking at the fore-end as the culprit, as the lug looks ok.
Sorry to have gotten you off track!
Good luck,
John

[Chuck Heald]

This could be a case of the wood contacting the barrels and preventing the metal from seating deeply enough to properly latch.