Assembly problem

[Cornelius Nielsen]

I am a new member with a VHE. I am having a problem fully closing the fore-end latch when reassembling. I believe the ejector hammers are in the correct position. The latch is raised about 1/2" from being closed. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Russ Jackson]

Good Morning Cornelius , If you look at the top left corner of our site you will see a bar ,Find " PGCA Home "and click it ,then go down the left side of your new page and find " Parker Faq's ,CLICK and then go to # 15 . Hopefully this will help ! Best ; Russ

[edgarspencer]

Whatever the reason for the tight fitting fore end, DO NOT exert force on the fore end wood, forward of the latch! I have seen countless splinter fore ends repaired because they were either cracked, or fully broken off at this point.
In most cases, a closed fist wrapped on the fore end, BEHIND the latch is all thats required

[Russ Jackson]

If there is in fact 1/2 " of space ,this is more than there should be ,I would think it probably has something to do with the cocking ,but just for a little insight as Edgar suggests a lite bump will usually do the trick with the palm of your hand , but a neat ;little trick that was shown to me and was explained as the Exact Way to apply a Parker Forend was to place the Forend in position and apply lite pressure and then open the opening lever and TaDa Snaps into place like magic ! I tried this on all of my guns and it works "" Most "" of the time and keeps all pressure off of that precious Forend Wood !

[Brian Dudley]

Squeeze firmly on the forend AT the latch. Not forward of that point. A tight fit that takes a firm squeeze is what you want in a Parker forend.

[chris dawe]

If there is in fact 1/2 " of space ,this is more than there should be ,I would think it probably has something to do with the cocking ,but just for a little insight as Edgar suggests a lite bump will usually do the trick with the palm of your hand , but a neat ;little trick that was shown to me and was explained as the Exact Way to apply a Parker Forend was to place the Forend in position and apply lite pressure and then open the opening lever and TaDa Snaps into place like magic ! I tried this on all of my guns and it works "" Most "" of the time and keeps all pressure off of that precious Forend Wood !

Russ's method is "the" way to put on a tight forend ...no strain ,no worry

[charlie cleveland]

russ s method is the way i put a stobborn forearm on...charlie

[Cornelius Nielsen]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I did try Russ's method and the latch did pop into place! Thank you again.

This same VHE has 32" barrels, a single selective trigger, and it looks like an altered butt stock. I believe the stock was altered to a straight English style and the lower metal straightened to follow the grip. I'm thinking of trying to find an original pistol grip stock and have the metal bent to the correct shape. Any suggestions on locating a stock and a craftsman for this type of job?

[Cornelius Nielsen]

My face is red! I guess I should look at who answered my original question. I think that Mr. Dudley would be a very good person to talk to about the stock.

[Chris Travinski]

Yep, click on Brian's name and look through some of his posts. There is some cool stuff going on in his shop.

[Mike Franzen]

Mr. Dudley does great work and so does our friend to the north Chris Dawe.

[Eric Eis]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I did try Russ's method and the latch did pop into place! Thank you again.

This same VHE has 32" barrels, a single selective trigger, and it looks like an altered butt stock. I believe the stock was altered to a straight English style and the lower metal straightened to follow the grip. I'm thinking of trying to find an original pistol grip stock and have the metal bent to the correct shape. Any suggestions on locating a stock and a craftsman for this type of job?

Yep Brain can help you and it might be easier to buy a new/used trigger guard then trying to bend the old one to fit, but keep the old original guard.