If you shoot a few shots at a time, a splinter is just fine. Probably good for 95 % of DG hunting and upland bird hunting with a double gun.
If you are shooting a lot in warm weather you better have a glove. Those barrels get HOT fast!. I think my 470 Heym 88 heats up faster than practically any rifle I own. I hate wearing gloves so I appreciate a bit fuller forearm when I am out practicing.
I have shot SXS shotguns a very long time and I have guns for upland hunting with splinters and guns for active shooting with a fuller forearm.
I shot over 20 rounds through my 470 today (80F) and WOW those barrels get warm...Blister your finger tips! I hate gloves!
BTW; Mike that is a beautiful double!

EZ

Yes the barrels do get hot but I normally wear fingerless gloves when hunting Africa or shooting my doubles anyway. My current big bore double (Merkel 500NE) has the splinter fore-end and I much prefer it to my Chapuis 9.3 with the semi-beaver. So from the heat perspective, the splinter is not an issue. I just like the way the splinter 1) Looks and 2) Functions.

I wear the fingerless gloves while hunting because I find it helps protect the hands when crawling. Having the fingertips exposed allows for normal dexterity. Best of both worlds.

Naki, it is marked No.2, so far it has only finished off one buff, the one in the picture. I plan to try and shoot some boar with it this autumn here in Spain, ref barrels getting hot, they certainly do but on a DG rifle how often do you shoot 4 or more shots in quick sucession ? When I shoot a S/S at clays down here in summer (when it is around 40 dec C or 105F) then you need a glove !! Forgot one last year and had to take off my shirt and wrap it round my hand shooting went to pot ! best, Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Bailey:
ref barrels getting hot, they certainly do but on a DG rifle how often do you shoot 4 or more shots in quick sucession ? best, Mike

Famous last words sounds a bit like "I didn't think I needed to carry more than a few rounds".

Sorry Ozhunter, but when something big and ugly is bearing down on you I doubt you´d notice the heat of the barrels, however hot they were best, Mike

From: michiganshooter"Let me make a counter suggestion. Stick it up your ass."

Nothing goes up my ass, it is stricly one way,
but every morning a michigander comes out, they sure are good swimmers !!

quote:

Originally posted by MichiganShooter:...
It just begs the question: Is it really that expensive to run CNC in the UK?...

I don't think it is - the real problem is the capital required to set up for computer-controlled gunmaking, given the small number of units made each year.

Here's a guy who had a successful company already making super-precision stuff and began making new guns:

http://www.longthorneguns.com/...showinfo=Try-Hesketh

Very interesting.

quote:

Originally posted by eezridr:
If you shoot a few shots at a time, a splinter is just fine. Probably good for 95 % of DG hunting and upland bird hunting with a double gun.
If you are shooting a lot in warm weather you better have a glove. Those barrels get HOT fast!. I think my 470 Heym 88 heats up faster than practically any rifle I own. I hate wearing gloves so I appreciate a bit fuller forearm when I am out practicing.
I have shot SXS shotguns a very long time and I have guns for upland hunting with splinters and guns for active shooting with a fuller forearm.
I shot over 20 rounds through my 470 today (80F) and WOW those barrels get warm...Blister your finger tips! I hate gloves!
BTW; Mike that is a beautiful double!

EZ

eezridr, IMO shotguns and double rifles are two very different firearms! Even when practicing with a double rifle I never fire more than four rounds without letting my rifle cool. Even in a charge or a running and gunning chase of a buffalo you will rarely fire more than six rounds! Beavertail foreends are for shotguns for driven birds or pass shooting on mulitple birds or clays, not double rifles.

When working up loads for regulation I cool the rifle completely after every two shots, while forming an eight shot center of individual barrel groups for correct regulation loads!
The double rifle is designed to fire from cool barrels for the first two shots, and followed very quickly for the next two. Sustained shots after the first four tells you nothing but that your rifle is getting hot! Shotguns are another matter!

......................................................................

Mac:

I agree with you that from an aesthetic standpoint, I much prefer the splinter forend. However, I agree with eerider that in warm weather the barrels on a double heat up very quickly so from that standpoint, the beavertail forend does make some sense. When I ordered my .375 Chapuis, I tried to get it with a splinter forend. I was told that the splinter forend was not an option on a Chapuis. You just have to pick your poison. Personally, I can live with either as long as the gun shoots well.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Bush:
Mac:

I agree with you that from an aesthetic standpoint, I much prefer the splinter forend. However, I agree with eerider that in warm weather the barrels on a double heat up very quickly so from that standpoint, the beavertail forend does make some sense. When I ordered my .375 Chapuis, I tried to get it with a splinter forend. I was told that the splinter forend was not an option on a Chapuis. You just have to pick your poison. Personally, I can live with either as long as the gun shoots well.

Dave there is a reason for the Chapuis doubles not useing a splinter! The reason is that Chapuis barrels are paper thin, and heat far more excessively than most double rifles, especially in the 9.3X74R and smaller.

The proper way to hold the fore-end of a double rifle for recoil control is to wrap your finger around the barrels with the wood in the palm of your hand, not pinch the
fore-end wood.

Even with the thin barrels one rarely fires more that four shots in a string if in hunting conditions, and shouldn't on the range.

If H&H uses splinter foe-ends on their big bore doubloe rifles,as below, the argument against holds no water IMO!



Of course Im not paying the coin for other's doubles so my reasons do not matter to them, and shouldn't. If holding the wood floats your canoe, then paddle on across the lake!
.............................................................................

MacD37, spot on, the easiest way to get your big bore to double on you is to not grip the whole front tightly with your left hand, fingers around the barrels, I´ve done it ! spectacular , best

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Bailey:
MacD37, spot on, the easiest way to get your big bore to double on you is to not grip the whole front tightly with your left hand, fingers around the barrels, I´ve done it ! spectacular , best

That grip also avoids the busted second finger on the trigger hand as well!

MacD37. as someone once said, "Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement" or as another rat hunting with terriers chap I know said about picking up live rats with the hand...."tailing rats is easy when you know how but learning is apt to be a bit of a bugger" best, Mike

Mac:

You must be right because my Chapuis 9,3X74 does get pretty hot pretty quickly!