18 http://www.riflemagazine.com Rifle 305I
n the last column, the receiver
of a Harrington and Richardson
break-open, single-shot rifle was
modified to remove stock loose-
ness common to this model. As
many of these rifles were drilled
and tapped for scope mounting
and had quite good triggers, solid
buttstock attachment is needed
for best accuracy.
Here we modify the forearm
attachment which, like the butt-
stock, was designed to keep man-
ufacturing cost low. H&R simply
silver soldered a piece of round
rod (post) onto the barrel at 90
degrees to the bore axis. A^1 ⁄ 4 x 28
tpi hole passed through the rod
lengthwise. These posts varied
somewhat in diameter and oc-
casionally were larger at the sol-
der joint. Shown in a photo is a
straight, .375-inch diameter post.
A hole is drilled in the forearm,
and a countersunk screw is used
to attach the forearm to the barrel.
Anyone familiar with break-
open guns knows the forearm
wood attaches to the front, or
“knuckle” of the action via a part
known as the “forearm iron.” How-
ever, in this case it’s not metal at
all but a synthetic material such
as nylon or acetal. Contacting sur-
faces are semicircular so the bar-rel can rotate down when the rifle
is opened for loading.
With the action closed, if the
forearm is either removed or re-
installed, it will scribe an arc be-
cause of the semicircular forearm
iron. There is no way a forearm
moving in an arc can fit over a ver-
tical post on the barrel and main-
tain a tight fit to the receiver. Since
position of the attaching screw is
fixed, the best that can be done is
to enlarge the hole in the forearm
until it fits over the post and sits
down on the barrel.
Unfortunately, recoil trans-
ferred to the forearm by the shoot-er’s forward hand is not taken up
by the post but by the forearm-
attaching screw, which can bend
the post forward and cause the
solder joint to fail. While I do not
recall resoldering the post on a ri-
fle, several have been repaired on
12- and 16-gauge shotguns. Just as
important to many shooters is that
when the action is opened, most
barrels are now loose enough atLIGHT GUNSMITHING by Gil Sengel
H&r single sHoT projeCT
parT ii
The bottom of the new forearm anchor
is filed to fit the curvature of the barrel.
The better the fit, the stronger the
solder joint.To tighten the forearm, a
piece of half-inch mild steel plate
is cut first and a hole drilled in its center
to just slip-fit over the factory anchor.The factory forearm anchor
is fitted at 90 degrees
to the barrel, which can
never produce a tight
forearm-to-receiver fit.