Hello all I recently got a 15" full bull barrel with muzzle brake in 460 smith and wesson from mgm and it is a awsome barrel. However I also got a custom forend from Tonys and it cracked right behind the rear mounting screw and bent both screws. He is making me a new on which is awsome, however i also went out and bought woodend rifle forend and cut about 2 inches off the end of it and drilled the new hole for the mounting screw as the rifle spacing is different and it also cracked. Has anyone had this issue with forends or does anyone have any advice on how to fix it so it stops happening as my options for forends are limited since it is a bull barrel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

If the custom forend from Tony's is larger and heavier than a normal pistol forend but with pistol forend screw spacing that could cause the issue. I've heard of it happening with rifle forends drilled for pistol barrel spacing because there is too much unsupported weight at the front. The only other thing would be a fit problem. You might double check with MGM or maybe Mike Bellm. I know Mike has had problems with the synthetic muzzleloader forearms used on his Bergara blanks.

I used a factory TC wooden forend that I sanded out to fit my full bull Encore barrel in 375 H&H AI. I never had a problem with it. (I guess I am saying hmmmmmm……….)

Duane

Encore,

I guess you understand what is happening. When the rounds goes off, the frame and barrel head rearward at a high rate of speed, and the scope mounts, rings, scope and fore end resist this rearward motion from their mass. The screw studs act as wedges into the end grain of the wood behind the hole in the wood. I have had good luck using Brownell's accraglass for these type of situations. The Accraglass is stronger than the wood grain. I would suggest talking to the forend maker about this possibility.

While I never tried this on my Contenders back in the day, there is a little 1911 grip fix that uses a small O-ring that you find in the plumbing section of your home store. The o-ring goes under the screw head, isolating the screw from the grip material. It acts a little like a shock absorber, if you will. And along the same lines, you need to make sure the diameter of the screw head is reduced enough so it is not contacting the wood and also acting like a wedge into the wood grain.

I had a custom 375 JDJ that was fluted heavily, and that barrel was light. The recoil used to eat up sling studs when I had a harris Bipod attached. I finally just decided that I would treat the stud as a consumable, as the forces had to go somewhere, and I did not want them bending or shearing the stud on the barrel ;^)

Craig

I think the Encore uses a smaller diameter forend screw than the Contender. You could overbore the holes in the forend and install a small steel sleeve around the screw to give it more diameter and this may help with the splitting. Just a thought.

the forends that tony has made for me all have pillers in them, do yours? the only time i have had anything like that happen was on a 300win mag encore rifle barrel when using a bipod. recoil would bend the crap out of the screws,

No mine does/did not...

Yes it does have the pillars. The laminate split between the layers of wood, and behind the pillar closest to the action it pushed the wood back both on his forend and the one i made myself. Think i am going to glass bed the one i made and am thinking about outting cross bolts in it like they do in rifles.

Take a couple pieces of Supervisor Tape and put in the channel for the barrel and tighten it up. It will stay. It will be hard to pull off but it will stay. The forend moving under recoil is what it is. Also make sure the screws are not bottoming out giving the effect the forend is tight.
Simple no fuss no muss and other uses for the supervisors tape.
In other words 2 faced tape slang supervisors tape if you get my meaning.

Quick question. What do you say to people who say anything over a 4" barrel is a rifle? I'm just curious.

You cannot be serious!

Maybe it is only one or two who feel that way. I always felt they were a tiny minority. Teeny, tiny small group. The short barrel, holster on the hip crowd. Glad you proved it.

I don't think he was saying he was one of those folks Frank. I think hes questioning why you brought this up.

He asked what we would say to anyone who said any barrel length over 4" constitutes a rifle. And, I would say "you cannot be serious"

I will say that I personally think that when a barrel excedes 15" in length you are getting near that territory tho ;-)

cfish:

Because somebody told me my BFR wasn't a handgun, on another site, and more agreed than not!

s4s4u:


They were dead serious. But I like the response you gave. Now I can go to the other site and say what you said. Anything over 15" is getting near that territory. They will scream!

I have a 15" MGM 1" full bull in 460, I ordered a 11" forend from Tony"s and have not had any issues after 500 rounds.

I was directing that at Frank not you. I was trying to tell Frank that you were not one of those folks.

That's what I thought, but just trying to eliminate any misunderstanding. Sometimes my written words don't portray my actual intent. I think we understand one another.

I just checked and I have exactly one handgun with a barrel less than 5" long. Guess I wouldn't fit in with Frank's other friends ;-)

I personally don't see the utility in having one under 5.5. But like everything in this realm of hunting its a matter of opinion

Hay Frank, stop going to the other sight posting the truth in which they can not fathom. You will not convert an unbeleaver who has their mind made up with stereotypes and wears blinders.

In short, you can lead a horse to water...

I have a 15" 500sw encore barrel that does same thing to forend. it seems u just gotta use a little forend on these barrels. I had pillared mine myself and placed a 3/8" alumunimum rod horizontally behind the pillar closest to the frame and it still ended up bending the aluminum. I had posted on here and the suggestion was to lighten up the forend as much as possible by drilling holes/cutting out some material

When I contacted bullberry about their long forends for my 50AK I had the same concern. I was told that they have something like a hanger bracket that is attatched to the barrel which keeps the forend from taking all of the shock. Does anyone have any experience with this hanger bracket before I order a custom forend from them???

Thanks in advance,
ERIK

It seems like generally a good concept-being a cheapo I have yet to buy any-was hoping to find decent pics so could get my dad to make some but never got that far yet. There are a couple diff designs of hanger bars out there. Im sure some of the higher ups will offer up alot of info