This is a method for shimming with no permanant altering on a barrel. This is visible with the forearm removed the amount you see is up to you when you cut the shim.
I tried to JB a little piece of feeler guage into the pivot point to remove the side to side play in a Handi I have owned since it was new. (but I couldn't get it to stay in the right place) I have a few Handis but all have their own reciever. This is an idea I had that many of you may find amusing, but I don't want to alter a barrel in case I want to sell it later so here is what I did. I do have pics I may try to load but will be happy to email out if you want to pm me.
I used feeler guages to find how much play there was and then took a whole feeler and made a "U" shape over the hinge pin open side toward the muzzle, put the barrel on pinning the shim it into place and checked for play. After again determining which guage fit best I took the barrel back off and cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol to remove any grease, I sanded the part of the feeler guage that was going to be touching the under barrel (about an inch sticks out from the reciever and will be siliconed to thebottom of the barrel)
I then also cleaned that... And replaced it on the hinge pin, then replaced the barrel. The barrel holds it tight in place but the feeler is narrower than the hinge so it was a temporary trial. I put a gob of silicone between the barrel and the feeler guage touching ONLY the round under barrel and the feeler (The end I placed on the top of the hinge pin was the end with the hole so the silicone made a mushroom like rivet through the hole that used to hold the feeler guage in the original guage set.)
I went and shot the gun after it set up over night, all went well, SO tonight I removed the test feeler guage and cut a piece of .004 shim stock to fit the whole width of the hinge pin and almost as long as the feeler guage, rounded the corners and poked some little holes to hold the silicone like the hole did on the test piece. I don't know how many shots it will hold up for but I bought a roll of 100" .004 shim stock so what ever happens it won't be hard to just re-shim if it doesn't last, but I figure as long as the barrel is not removed it will stay just fine. And if I ever decide to sell the barrel I just peel off the silicone and it is a unaltered barrel. It may not be THE answer for everyone but it has potential for those of us who really do not want to alter a barrel. Now if the shelf needs stoned down that is a different story but mine didn't need that modification. But I do see where the feeler guage did touch against the plastic spacer under the forearm, so will relieve that by .008. Or remove some of the excess sticking foreward on the bottom of the "U" that is not attached to the barrel.
I know you won't all agree with it, but I do belive it will work for me. Just another perspective.
thejanitor