I recently acquired a steyr 458 win mag and on the first trip to the range the piece of wood on the fore end of the stock came off after several shots. The stock has a thin plate of white stuff (faux ivory?) then the piece at the end(the piece that came off) which appears to be a different type of wood or at least finished with a different stain to give it contrast. This piece is attached to the stock by two dowels. I assume that the dowels shrunk from ten or fifteen years of drying out in the previous owners safe thus allowing the piece to come off. My question is: To reattach this piece should I use some type of glue or dampen the dowels to encourage slight swelling and then tap it back together?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks, Jason Johnson

Use a good quality glue, or, an expoxy. Acraglass come to mind but there are other good ones. If you dampen the dowels they will probably swell for a tight fit now, but they will again shrink and you'll be back in the same boat.

I'd sand off all the residue of the old glue (and the white thing if you don't want it there) and epoxy the pieces back together. Don't wet anything down, just fill in any gaps with more epoxy.

I'd put it back together with acraglass, problem solved for your lifetime at least.