RLI-

With my rifles, there's no wood where I grip the barrels when in a shooting position, if anything the forend tip ends up in the shallow palm of my support hand.
I tend to grip the barrels ahead of the forend wood.
My rifles have splinter forends, and I think a beavertail forend would get in the way of handling the rifle.

The only time my hands spend any time on the forend is while carrying the rifle or taking it from carry to shooting positions.

--Tinker