Is Stud Placement Off Now?

[Winter Hawk]

I bought a new .30-30 NEF a while back, and it was hard to open.  I bought a 20 ga. barrel from one of the fine folks here and it had no issues at all.  It went on like it was made for the frame.  I recently traded the .30-30 barrel to Pelican717 for one in .357 which arrived today.  It went on nice and tight, but I had a hard time getting the forearm on.  Once I did, it was again hard to open.

While I was pondering on this, I noticed that the plastic spacer was scrunched up a bit.  "Aha" thinks me, as a little light went off over my head. I took the spacer off and sanded down the back of the forearm a smidge, replaced the spacer and put the forearm back on.  This time it went on with no problem and the rifle opens like the other H&Rs and NEFs I have had.  However, now the back of the forearm can pivot from side to side just a tad.

Considering that the older shotgun barrel had no issues while the two new rifle barrels did, I wonder if the jig to locate the stud at the factory might not be set back by a few hundredths, causing this extra tightness?  Has anyone else noticed this?  If so, what have you done about it?

I haven't tried the shotgun barrel since sanding down the forearm.  I hope it's not too loose now.  If it is, I will add that observation to this post also.

-Kees-

[quickdtoo]

See forend fit in the FAQs for the remedy. 

Tim

[S.E.Ak]

Remenber when lights go off it gets dark

[Winter Hawk]

I checked the Foreend fit, that is what I did except that I sanded the wood, not the spacer.  I was more wondering, since I had the extreme tightness with two new rifle barrels (one factory fitted to the frame), if this is something where with the move to NY the placement of the stud was changed by several hundredths on the rifle barrels.  The shotgun barrel had no such issues.

Now I don't have nearly as many Handis as some on this forum, only half a dozen or so including an older H&R, and I have not seen one this tight before.  The fact that the back of the forearm can slide sideways with the rifle barrel (not on the 20 gauge) does concern me a little.

-Kees-

[quickdtoo]

FWIW, when I made the fixture for locating forend studs, I checked a bunch of barrels including two Ilion frames barrels, and chose a length that was on the tight side so synthetic forends would be easier to fit since they can't easily be shimmed.

Tim

[Winter Hawk]

Thanks Tim!

-Kees-