New Member New Owner Need Advice

[Nathan Haass]

Folks
Recently acquired one my father-in-laws Parkers a GHE-28G (s/n 237135), its in very nice shape. The fore end was attached to barrel when I received, but lever was not fully seated. Spent quite a bit of time researching on the forum and believe the problem to be that some minor adjustment was required to the barrel "lug". My wife was not comfortable with me adjusting so we took to local gunsmith who said he could fix.

Fast forward: He indeed got the lever to fully seat but after I picked up and upon close inspection I noticed a couple of things:
1. Screw heads were not aligned parallel/perpendicular to the barrel. I had taken a picture of fore end before I took it in.
2. I noticed a small crack in wood emanating from LH screw going through end of iron into wood stock (see attached photos).
3. Also the gunsmith gave me a small piece of metal he said he recovered from taking iron off the fore end. He said he thought it was a piece to a spring. Should have been my first glue that all was not well.

Questions:
1. Can crack be fixed? and if so a recommendation for competent gunsmith. I live in the Pacific Northwest.
2. If I send to someone to fix can I just send fore end or do I need to send complete gun? I believe I can address the lever seating problem based on the technical information I got from studying the forum threads.

Thank you in advance for you help.
Nathan

[B. Dudley]

Where is the photo of the broken part? I can ID it if I see it.

Likely your forend latch not seating is was simply a matter of needing to squeeze the forebd a little harder. They should not just fall into place with no effort. Unless they are very worn out.

Your gun also has had its case color redone by cyanide method. At least on the forend iron. Maybe something warped some in that process and caused the issue.

[Nathan Haass]

Mr. Dudley
Thanks for prompt reply. If you look closely at third picture on left side where inletting of iron touches wood you can see a very faint line. I backeed the screw off to relieve the pressure and crack almost completely closed up except for the very faint line you see going left to right just above centerline of fore end

[B. Dudley]

But you mentioned a broken off parts that fell out of the forend when removed?

[Nathan Haass]

Yes, my apologies.
Attached is new photo of metallic piece. Looks like bronze to me maybe 3/16"X1/8" X1/16" thick.

[Nathan Haass]

Brian
Was looking at the ejector schematic posted under technical information.

Assuming that the gunsmith I took it to did indeed take forend iron off, is it possible that this might be part no. 83 (stop plate for sear slide)? From the schematic it looks like this is smallest internal part to forend that bears any resemblance to the part I have in hand. But tough to judge the proportions of the schematic relative to my part.

Thank you again for any information you can provide. I am comfortable working on my Smith and Colt revolvers, but no experience in this area. Especially looking at the schematic and all of its associated parts.

[B. Dudley]

I do not recognize that at all.

[Nathan Haass]

Brian
Thank you for taking time to reply. I appreciate your help. Any advice on repairing the crack in the forend?

[B. Dudley]

The crack is a relatively common issue with ejector forends. It really is not much of a concern. And any efforts at repairing it may stabilize it, but it will always be able to be seen.

[Nathan Haass]

Many thanx again for your time and consideration