Can't attach forend

[Tommy Neely]

Dean,

The hammers are cocked. When the barrels are attached to the receiver I cannot attach the forend. I can remove the barrels from the receiver, pull the extractors out on the barrels to the ejected position and am able to attach the forend. With the forend attached, using a block of wood, I attempt to push each extractor back into the recess position but they will not lock and stay in the recess position.

Denis Potter posted on this thread explaining this solution.

[Tommy Neely]

Problem solved. The hammers on the forend were not fully cocked,even though they appeared to be. Lesson learned.

[Old S/S Fan]

Y’all saved my evening reading this thread. Just picked up a 1911 grade 3 from my favorite gun shop this afternoon. Took it apart to lubricate the pivots and add some crystalline wax. Then, ut oh could not get the fore end back on. Found a small piece of wood moulding and resolved as noted. Just mailed the research letter application and check to Chuck to get the history on this beauty. Will bust some clays tomorrow. The forum is a great tool for those of us who like the old stuff. Mike

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Fox, LC Smith, and Parker Bros. among other fine American and English double guns have small re-assembly techniques and tricks-of-the-trade.
It might be a good idea to permanently post assembly/re-assembly detailed instructions
so marked under the Parker General Discussion-if these are not posted elsewhere. It might save time and in some cases preserve Parker forends...along with hammers or extractors against unnecessary damage.

Measure twice, cut once.

[Clark McCombe]

I’ve had the idea of a little video library for just these types of issues. Even with the very good explanations here, I’ve had some difficulty getting a Forend put back on. Hope to have some discussion at the Southern about how we might go about a video project.

[Larry the Gun Guy]

I have occasionally had this problem and I have solved it by having the gun with the barrels on it standing up on its butt. Then I put the forend tightly against the barrels and forcefully start pushing it down toward the receiver. It takes some strength to do this, but it recocks the ejectors and the forend will then latch onto the barrels. It's kind of like the dowel method but using the gun to do it instead of the dowel.