I like most beaver tail fore ends, the ones I can’t see as beautiful are ones with a schnabel tip or if they’re just very thick and look like a club.
On Ithaca SXS’s I prefer the earlier shorter version, although the later longer ones are fine also. With the shorter forend, I will often place my pointer finger at the front of the forend just as a way of repeating my hold.
I also think a longer forend makes the barrels appear to be shorter, which is not good.
First picture is a few Ithaca’s with earlier and later style forearms. From left to right.
2E 28” 410
2E 26” 20 gauge, my favorite grouse/woodcock gun
5E 30” 20 gauge
4E 32” 16 gauge
3E 30” 12 gauge
5E 32” 12 gauge Magnum
4E 32” 10 gauge Magnum
Pictures 2 & 3 are of 2 similarly stocked Ithaca’s, I don’t believe the stocks are original but why they wear the Sunburst with aluminum spacers has me wondering if they did maybe go back to Ithaca.
I purchased these two a few years apart, not close in serial #, but there’s so many similarities between the stocks of both, they had to have been done by the same person.
Anyone remember seeing similar stocked guns, cheek piece, grips through wrist are narrow but tall, big wide flat beaver tail forends??