I have an old, 1950s if I recall right, Topper M48 with a beaver tail, not the push button model. 12G 2-3/4" or 3" shells, full choke barrel.
It was bought from an old antique gun shop without a firing pin and left sitting in a buddies closet for 20+ years as he couldn't get one shipped up here from the US. Two yeas ago I bought it from him and had a semi-retired gunsmith make a pin for it, looks like he did the old drill bit trick but no spring. When I got it back I noticed that the forend/handgaurd was now lose so I used wood filler to fix it and it tested fine at the farm.
Two years later I take my daughter to my spot in the woods to target shoot and the forend is coming off again, screw pulled the wood-filler out. (This handgaurd doesn't use a bolt but a pin and a spring latch to hold it in place.)
Other than digging out the old wood filler and trying again, or using steel wool etc., what would last against the recoil and do a proper job of keeping this in place? JB weld left to dry and then drill a pilot hole? I recall my grandfather using steel wool and carpenters glue when I was 10'ish for tools with wood handles/body, but he wasn't exactly mechanically inclined.
It's not really a collector but more of a work/truck gun. I was thinking of trying grouse this year and using it as it's pretty darn good at 15/20 yards with #7.5. (All I had time to test it with before it started coming off.)
TIA,
Zen
It was bought from an old antique gun shop without a firing pin and left sitting in a buddies closet for 20+ years as he couldn't get one shipped up here from the US. Two yeas ago I bought it from him and had a semi-retired gunsmith make a pin for it, looks like he did the old drill bit trick but no spring. When I got it back I noticed that the forend/handgaurd was now lose so I used wood filler to fix it and it tested fine at the farm.
Two years later I take my daughter to my spot in the woods to target shoot and the forend is coming off again, screw pulled the wood-filler out. (This handgaurd doesn't use a bolt but a pin and a spring latch to hold it in place.)
Other than digging out the old wood filler and trying again, or using steel wool etc., what would last against the recoil and do a proper job of keeping this in place? JB weld left to dry and then drill a pilot hole? I recall my grandfather using steel wool and carpenters glue when I was 10'ish for tools with wood handles/body, but he wasn't exactly mechanically inclined.
It's not really a collector but more of a work/truck gun. I was thinking of trying grouse this year and using it as it's pretty darn good at 15/20 yards with #7.5. (All I had time to test it with before it started coming off.)
TIA,
Zen
