8″ (9″ OAL) and 10″ (11″OAL) Forends that have aluminum pillars installed have hole spacing to accommodate standard screw spacing for 10″ barrels, 12″ barrels, 14″ barrels and (16″+) carbine length barrels. Our 6″ Forends have a brass ferrule on the bottom side and are designed primarily for use on 10″ single screw barrels. However, they have been successfully used on some single screw Octagon barrels (albeit with a sliver if the hinge pin showing in most cases). The 6″ forend also have pockets at the location of the front screws so they can still be mounted to a longer barrel with a standard 2 screw spacing. If you have a question as to the usability of the forend on your barrel – please give us a call to discuss. We can also build a 6″ forend that has proper spacing for Octagon barrels too- but it will not work with a not octagon barrel in most cases.
On the Contender Forends- the Barrel Locking nut is designed to make metal to metal contact with the aluminum pillar and have an air gap underneath the barrel to allow cooling airflow. When wood or gunstock laminate absorbs and releases moisture- it moves, it expands, shrinks, and shifts. By creating the metal to metal contact at the point of fastening the forend to the barrel- almost all of that movement’s affect has been eliminated. Our aluminum pillars aim at minimizing the affects of humidity levels that would normally change the point of impact on a zero’d barrel. The 6″ (7″ OAL) forends do not have a gap underneath the barrel as these need to sit directly onto the barrel so as to not have any rotational movement.
