doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com L C Smith made by Marlin

What are you hearing about this Smith made by Marlin? I've seen the 28 and 410, but wondered if they are boxlocks with just a side plate?

The small gauges are made by Zabala of Spain. They are true boxlocks with false sideplates. If you want a Zabala small gauge boxlock, buy one of the discontinued BSA line for half of what the "new" L.C. will cost. Best, DR. BILL

Not to put too fine a point on it, but these Eurotrash doubles being imported with the L.C. Smith name on them are a bigger insult to L.C. Smith (and Alexandter T. Brown) then the Model B was to Ansley Herman Fox or the Nitro Special was to Daniel Marion Lefever!!!

Here is real LC Marlin and made in USA!

That's got to be the uglyist case colors I ever saw.

I saw a couple in the main gun store in Casper, in May. I was not impressed at all. They didn't look like $1400 worth, to me.

No, that is not the "real LC Marlin"; that's Marlin's cheapened down second version. The first was produced just after Marlin purchased the gun works in 1945 and continued thru 1950; and represented Marlin's first attempts to lower production cost time with manufacturing short-cuts and experimenting/altering finish techniques.

This terminology is used often and leads me to ask, what are sideplates that are not false?

Note I did not mention sidelocks.

"True"/"working" sideplates are found on "Sweet Elsies", LeFever's, and other sidelock guns. In a sidelock the hammer, spring, and sear are attached to the plate vice the receiver. LeFevers while not a "true" sidelock as only the cocking indicator is part of the plate generally are classed as sidelocks. The false plates serve not real function except to provide more "canvas" for folks like Ken Hurst. Best, BILL

"False sideplates" is one of those contradictions in terms . . . like "handling marks". The sideplates are real enough. It's just that the lock work is not attached to them. Cogswell & Harrison was one British firm that used them on quite a few guns. They had a better term: "ornamental strengthening plates".

Lefevers are not sidelocks at all. They are only called sidelocks by the gun-ignorant. Some of the earlier guns had the sears on the sideplates but the common Syracuse Lefever is only called a sidelock incorrectly. Sidelocks are sidelocks, sideplates are possibly correctly called "false sidelocks". There is no need to call a sideplate false or a sidelock a "true sidelock", as Larry said. Words mean things and the addition of false and/or true just adds to the confusion.

Presumably a false-hearted lover does have a working ticker. False in this context means deceptive, hermaphroditic, mutant, ambiguous, half bear and half alligator, capable of fooling the gun-ignorant. I'll have the Lefever special boxlunch with side of sears and cocking indies on a crisp bed of steel. If I get too full, I'll put the sears in the box for later.

jack

I DEFINITELY DO NOT RECOMMEND THESE NEW GUNS THAT DEGRADE THE "ELSIE" HERITAGE! THEY, AS POINTED OUT ALREADY ARE NOT MARLIN LATE 1940 PRODUCTS. THEY ARE ALSO NOT USA MANUFACTURED. WHAT THEY ARE.....MOSTLY GUNS MADE OVERSEAS....SOME IN TURKEY AND SOME BY FAUSTI IN ITALY. AS AN AVID ELSIE SHOOTER....I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD COMPLETE MY COLLECTION BY ACQUIRING ONE OF THESE NEW-AGE L.C. SMITH GUNS IN 28 GAUGE. THE GUN WAS A DISASTER...IT ARRIVED WITH THE BARRELS SEPARATING AND THE RIB COMING OFF THE GUN....WHILE STILL IN THE ORIGINAL BOX. I NEXT TRIED THE 20 GAUGE VERSION THAT ARRIVED WITH A SST THAT WOULD NOT SWAP-OVER AND A PRONOUNCED RATTLE IN THE ACTION. IT ALSO WENT BACK AND WAS TRADED WITH THE DEALER FOR A NEAR MINT MODEL 101 WINCHESTER ...THAT WAS OF COURSE SUPERB! SO IN SUM, FORGET WHAT ANOTHER ONE OF THE RESPONDERS ACCURATELY TITLES "EURO-TRASH".