Interchangeable?

[Ralph English]

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

[Greg Baehman]

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.

[Dean Romig]

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.

[Greg Baehman]

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.

[Dean Romig]

Oops... Sorry.

[Brian Dudley]

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.

[Bill Murphy]

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.

[Greg Baehman]

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.

[Brian Dudley]

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.

[Brian Dudley]

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.

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.

[Pat Dugan]

A friend has a 28 ga repro with beavertail.
THE WOOD HAD A CRACK OF A 1/16 INCH NEAR THE RECIEVER. HE SENT THE
forend back and they replaced it and sent the old wood back..I got it and it mounted perfectly all screwed holes matched on a splinter iron. Of course there is a blank hole where the bolt is supposed to go, but as far as fuction, it works fine. I wI'll post pictures tomorrow as the gun is not nearby. I have shot 2000 28 ga shells st skeet and with the .410 Barrels , probably another 1000 shells.
The beavertail holding firm to splinter iron.

[Dean Romig]

OK, the 28 ga. Repro BTFE iron measures 5 10/32" overall length and the 28 ga. Repro splinter iron measures 4 28/32" so, they can't be swapped without some modifications to the wood. Both irons seem to have the same taper in thickness but, of course, the BTFE becomes thicker due to the fact that beyond the recess for the forend loop it needs to be thicker to allow for the threaded hole to receive the reinforcing rod.

[Pat Dugan]

You can put the short iron in the long
beavertail wood with no problem as I said to put splinter wood on the beavertail iron would mean cutting out about 1/2 inch of wood or maybe more