Fox Collectors

I have a 1927 circa Sterlingsworth. I haven't used it in a few years and kept it in the safe broke down. As I went to snap it together, after a good cleaning, the forend will not snap onto the barrel. I know nothing dramatic happened to the gun as it sat on a secure safed shelf. Any suggestions out there?

going to need more info of exactly what the issue is.... will it go on but not stay on? can you not even get it completely on? Can you get it on the barrels if the barrels are not attacked to the receiver?

Make sure that little squared off steel part at the rear, bottom of the for end is engaged properly and pushes the cocking slide down into the action. Other than that or some physical damage to the fore end iron about all I can think of would be swollen wood in the fore end. If the wood is expanded ( due to moisture content) it might not let the roller go past center to allow the fore end to latch.

The small squared off steel seems to need to rock back for the forend to engage. Its on a spring that allows it to rock back but does not seem to rock back far enough. The forend wood does not appear to be swollen nor does it have any signs of damage. I can line it up at the top with no problem - it just seems to be about a 1/4 inch to small (the forend steel).

.......try opening the gun ever so slightly when you are pushing the forend back into place. I have my favorite 20ga S/W that is finicky about getting the forend on unless I do just this. Just a suggestion.

tjw

Hawk, since no parts have been disassembled this should be easy to resolve. Two things I would try: 1) see that the spring-loaded catch on the barrel lug is free to move, full travel. Push on it with a piece of wood or similar to verify that it's not being stopped short by corrosion or a piece of floating debris. Some penetrating oil and working a few times with the wood pusher will help. 2) Verify that the cocking slide (squared off piece of steel) is free to move full length in its mill cuts. It's a tight fit and gets hung up rather easily. Again, use penetrating oil and try pushing with a piece of wood or non marring material. Silvers

Silvers - It took several times of working that spring loaded lug back and forth with the oil but just when I was ready to give up, the SOB slid right in there. It actually took me taking the entire bracket out of the forend (two small screws). That way I was not going to damage the wood. Nonetheless, thanks and thanks to everybody that chipped in. I look forward to helping the next guy.