I recently purchase a 20 ga Field grade LC Smith shotgun. It has the three position safety but the gun fires in all three positions. I would like to find a gunsmith in Western Washington/Oregon if possible to repair that and give the gun a good look over. Any recommendations?
WAID,
The L. C. Smith three position safety was designed to allow you to "de-cock" the hammers with the action open. This can be done by moving the safety to the rear position, opening the gun, pulling both the triggers, then closing the gun. This allows you to store the gun without tension on the hammers and does not require snap caps or disassembly.
I would send it off to a competent gunsmith and have it adjusted so it cannot go any further back than the middle "SAFE" position or at least make sure the link is installed properly so it cannot fire on all three positions. Some smiths will drill the tang and install a steel pin to stop it from moving further back, but I would avoid this as the tang is not very thick in this area. Have a piece of steel welded to the rear of the safety blade itself or have a steel stop block installed with loctite into the tang safety slot. Hope this helps.
Channing
