H&R Single Shot Project Part II

Light Gunsmithing.

- Gil Sengel

In the last column, the receiver of a Harrington and Richardson break-open, single-shot rifle was modified to remove stock looseness common to this model. As many of these rifles were drilled and tapped for scope mounting and had quite good triggers, solid buttstock attachment is needed for best accuracy.

Here we modify the forearm attachment which, like the buttstock, was designed to keep manufacturing cost low. H&R simply silver soldered a piece of round rod (post) onto the barrel at 90 degrees to the bore axis. A 1⁄4x28 tpi hole passed through the rod lengthwise. These posts varied somewhat in diameter and occasionally were larger at the solder joint. Shown in a photo is a straight, .375-inch diameter post. A hole is drilled in the forearm, and a countersunk screw is used to attach the forearm to the barrel.

Anyone familiar with breakopen guns knows the forearm wood attaches to the front, or “knuckle” of the action via a part known as the “forearm iron.” However, in this case it’s not metal at all but a synthetic material such as nylon or acetal. Contacting surfaces are semicircular so the barrel can rotate down when the rifle is opened for loading.

With the action closed, if the forearm is either removed or reinstalled, it will scribe an arc because of the semicircular forearm iron. There is no way a forearm moving in an arc can fit over a vertical post on the barrel and maintain a tight fit to the receiver. Since position of the attaching screw is fixed, the best that can be done is to enlarge the hole in the forearm until it fits over the post and sits down on the barrel.