Mark;

I agree with you and it makes a great deal of sense to have both the draw and the hinge pin in equal support of the barrels during firing of the gun and or rifle.

As I was conceiving the idea of building shoe lump barrels and later during the actual building and jointing of the barrels to the Brno action, I jointed the barrels with the draw moving the front lump hook back from the hinge pin by .002". However, after giving consideration, I decided that it was foolish not to have equal distribution of forces during the ignition of the cartridge against the hinge pin and the draw.

Not all who replace hinge pins in double guns and rifles see the value of a hardened pin--such a preventing galling of the hook as it rotates against the hinge pin.