ejector foreend inletting ?

[Dave Furman]

Hi, First post here.
I am stocking a 16ga AE for a friend--the original stock was cut quite short and had the pistol grip sawed off to make a straight stock, and the foreend is a replacement. The inletting in the FE is particularly rough, and it appears what is normally a thin section of wood is almost paper thin and cracked in a few locations. I am epoxy bedding the foreend to use as a pattern, and wondered if anyone has insight into which areas of the inletting need to allow room for parts to move, as I'm unfamiliar with exactly how the ejector mechanism works. Is anyone able to post a picture or two of the inletted surfaces of a nicely done ejector foreend?
Thanks very much for any insight or advice anyone has.
Dave

[Silvers]

Welcome to the forum Dave. I don't have a pic handy but I will offer two suggestions. The "web" between the ejectors that the knuckle screw runs into is particularly thin and easily cracked. You might consider making up a new wood screw with the same head, shank and length - but a smaller forward diameter and sharper threads. Second suggestion is to make the sides of the forend adjacent to the ejector sears a bit thicker than the old forend. That will make the wood a bit prouder at the sides of the knuckle and help keep the wood there from cracking. Otherwise the inletting cuts need to be essentially the same as in the old forend wood.

I know you asked about the forend and I hesitate to bring this up; I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But so many restocked Foxes I see look all wrong IMO in the buttstock and at the nose of the comb and the "flutes" in the nose. Often the stockmaker gets the nose too far back and the stock looks like a canoe paddle as the term was coined by a friend. If your friend wants that Foxy look, and you have not restocked Foxes before, I strongly suggest that you review many pics of original Fox stocks and try to duplicate that look.

Last suggestion - you might consider joining the AHFCA to have access to the Member's Forum where in depth topics like this are often posted. Silvers

[Dave Furman]

Thank you very much, I appreciate the reply.
Problem for me is I don't trust the old cuts in the foreend to be "correct" since it is an obvious replacement and appears to not be very well done. I'll keep poking around for info, if anyone else has any at any point I'm sure it would help me out immensely, but if none is to be found I'll just do it the slow way! The web that holds the long FE screw does look fragile, that's a good tip, and I'll be looking to maximize the amount of wood in this--it looks like it will be necessarily thin, but I think not nearly as thin as the one that's on it currently. Thank you for the tips, if any other come up I'm all ears!!

Regarding the stock, while this is not supposed to be a "restoration" that is entirely true to the original, I think the stock is Foxy in appearance--perhaps the comb nose fluting is not 100% original, but the grip looks right to me anyway. the pattern is built on an old Fajen replacement stock that came off my own Fox, and at this point is mostly epoxy and bondo and has been refined quite a bit. I'd be happy to hear what people think of the lines--below is a picture, note that there is a dab of epoxy on the back side of the round knob that makes it look somewhat flat above--it is quite round, that was just to fill a bubble and has been rasped off. I have quite a collection of photos that I use for reference and a couple friends with that "eye" that offer good advice without the influence of hours in the vaccuum of my shop, they both certainly help.



I'll look to joining, thanks again.

[Dan Rossiter]

Hello Dave
I have restocked enough fox ejector forends to know it's a pain. In addition to Silvers's good advice here is what I would do. The first step is to make a good pattern so the duplicator can do a good job. Next fit the metal without the parts installed to your duplicated wood. Then install the parts and refit the metal work. Once you get the iron refit with parts installed fit the forfend to the barrels. Then snap the forfend onto the gun and gently try to cock the ejectors by opening the gun. This will leave inletting black on the areas where the wood is impeding the movement of the parts. Go slow these are fragile forends. If you find yourself getting even a little frustrated put the job down and stat again another day.

Good luck