doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Need help deciding - 16ga. LC feather

Hey all, looking at this LC Smith and need help deciding.

Here�s what I know � Action is tight, bores are bright and no pitting, stock refinish (sanding and oil), no cracks behind sideplate, original butt plate and dimensions, choked full and mod. Made in 1919, Feather weight, original LC Smith.

Marked FWS. Not sure what the �S� is for.

Chambers are 2 9/16ths ?

Will need to shoot low(er) pressure loads ? (I roll my own)

Any advice would be appreciated. I already have two sixteen�s. The Zoli sxs, and the M12. Don�t really need a third, and would have to scrape the money together.

Seller wants $600

D.

The 'S' indicates the gun was made by L.C. Smith Gun Company owned by Marlin 1945-1950. There should be no 'Hunter Arms...' on top of the left barrel.
The good news is that the chambers should be 2 3/4", but of course need to be measured.
Lots of information here
http://www.lcsmith.org/faq/faqhome.html

Yes, a fine gun and you can shoot regular loads if the chambers are 2 3/4, but you need to measure.

Your gun was made in 1946

http://www.lcsmith.org/shotguns/manufacture.html

Would suggest you get the stock glass bedded to preserve the head.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Side-By-Side-Shotguns/BI.aspx?Keywords=smith+16

Mike

Thanks. Does the 'Marlin' era detract from Price?

Whats the 'best' years of manufacture for a featherwieght, if there is one?

I've looked at the LC site, but the histroy seems, to me, to be confusing.

D.

Being a Marlin-era gun the chambers are most likely 2-3/4", as the transition from 2-9/16" happened in the late 30's.
Skeetx's suggestion about glass-bedding the head of the stock is almost a must, as (from the pics) there appears to be a sizeable gap between the back of the lockplates and the stock. In addition, the head of the stock is probably oil-soaked, as the gun appears to be heavily used (very worn checkering).
Light 2-3/4" loads would be OK----AFTER you glass-bedded the stock, but if you do more research you can find nicer Hunter 16's than this one for a little more money-- just MHO.

I think he said the checkering was sanded out during a refinish.

Check out the screw heads on the lock plates, and the front top tang set screw- you have to move the opening lever over as you would to unbreech the gun- all the screw head slots are boogered- which usually mean some hamfisted numbnut took it part, God only knows why- does the automatic safety function? Many times, when an amateur field strips an Elsie, they lose the connecting slide-I never buy a Smith gun of any vinatge unless the seller will allow me to CAREFULLY REMOVE THE LOCK PLATES- IF HE SAYS NO- no sALE- THERE ARE MANY sMITHS OUT THERE FOR SALE- imo- THE BEST ARE THE PRE-1913 series- better wood available and more hand fitting, even on the OO and O grades- why better walnut before 1913- WW1- rifle stocks, airplane props, etc chewed up a lot of walnut--

As stated earlier, the S means that it was built by Marlin and they started the serial numbers over again, starting at FWS 1. Many of these guns were built by Hunter Arms employees and the price in my opinion does not detract from it being a Marlin era gun.
Most of the ones I have seen have 2 3/4 inch chambers written under the serial number.
At this time all Marlin era guns were built on the Featherweight frame.

If the gun is tight, I think $600 is a fair price. I have seen 12 gauges going for that price. Blue lists 16 gauges as being 60% higher than the same gun in the same condition as a 12 gauge.

Thanks gents! All great info, thanks for your honesty!

I have enough guns for now, and would really like to shoot a grouse with a sixteen gauge damascus hammer gun one day (it's on my bucket list), so I'll save the funds for that purchase one day.

Nice to know what I was looking at.

Don.

P.S - The buggered screw heads also gave me pause for thought. Be tough to look at those all the time, and wonder what a previouse owner was doing/thinking.

dal, when you see the buggered screws on any gun, it is because whom ever did it used the wrong type of screwdriver. You cannot use a screwdriver found in Lowes, Home Depot or hardware stores. These all have beveled tips and need to have tips that are parallel in thickness to the tip so that they fill the slot evenly from top to bottom of slot.