LC Smith Ideal

[kgb]

Bought a 16ga Ideal this past year, I broke it down and put the forearm back on the barrels for transportation and found it would not come back off. The release roller barely moved, not enough to actually unlatch. I took the gun to the LC Smith booth at Pheasantfest last week and the guy manning the display was familiar with the issue. He told me a wooden dowel inserted under the forend could force the forend off, lacking an actual dowel he proceeded to destroy a plastic ball point pen trying to get it in there. Back home, I ground a dowel into a wedge shape and tapped it down between the barrel and forend to free it up. Felt odd having to pry like that, but it's apparently the cure for the condition. Had that happened on a hunting trip, a backup gun would have been needed.

It does go bang!