Thomas,
i know one of the gunsmiths at the shop, he and I are members of the same retriever club. I called and asked if I could bring my 1100 in for repair and could i bring my Parker barrel sets along so he could tell me the choke spec's. I brought the 1100 in and left it for repair.
I also brought in my Parker barrels one set with the straight stock attached and the other with the beavertail attached. Both were in individual gun socks which were handed across the counter to the another gunsmith (the owner of the shop). The barrels were never more than 10 feet from me in plain view while the gunsmith ran a device down each barrel and called out the spec's. The barrels were put back in the sleeves, the ends tied and handed back to me -- this took no more than 15 minutes. I never saw the forend removed. And never thought I had to to open the gunsocks and inspect the forends.
I left the shop, put the barrels in my car, went home and put them unopened into my gunsafe. 6 months passed before I went to assemble the Parker and discovered the loss.
The gunsmith doesn't recall the forend being on the barrel and otherwise has been cooperative. I am hoping it will turn up and would gladly pay for its return.
Thanks for your interest,
John.
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