I tried various tools inserted in the threaded hole at the bottom of the shaft but nothing of the size that would fit could handle the force required to move the shaft into alignment - all of them bent, including pin punches, hex keys and hardened screws. All before the shaft was anywhere near where it needed to be. I believe I will make a threaded insert to fit the shaft that I can screw completely into the shaft with a shoulder that bear tightly against the shaft. It will have a larger diameter portion that I can push against with the modified screwdriver - close enough to the shaft that it should not bend. As far as drilling a hole in the wood goes, it is so thin there it really is not providing any strength to the stock and the hole will not affect anything and will not be seen when the gun is reassembled.
Thanks again for all your help!
Jack Rowe is right- but remember that our LC Smiths were not designed like the London bests he knows like Rosie O'Donnell knows the "Lezzie" Handbook-- the Smiths are back actioned sidelocks without an intercepting sear design, and the mating of the sidelock plates to the stock is a critical issue-- a bevel of the metal surface would have been better. I have at present 5 pre-1913 LC Smiths- two with Damascus Barrels, 3 with Nitro Steel (or Crown, London, all the same basically) all are 12 gauge, have double triggers, and two have ejectors, 3 have extractors- I always shoot RST 2.5" light target loads in them, nothing else, I have reinforced the stocks in the head areas with a skin coating of acra-glas, and I shoot them frequently- No cracks (yet) but another thing to possibly consider- as mine were all made before WW1- we had a better supply of good black walnut (or in the higher grades, English, French, Turkish- what have you may) the War to End All Wars used up a ton of walnut for gun stocks and aircraft- mainly propellers- so there you have it, just my opinion. LC Smith American made sidelock shotguns are like British: Boss, Purdey, Woodward, Churchill, Powell, Holland & Holland, Lang, etc as the German VW is to the Porsche- in that the air cooled engines used in each were designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche- after that, waaaaay different. But I can afford lower graded older Smiths in 12 gauge, as there were so many made, and I am an easy "fit" as far as stock dims are concerned- if it fits like a field grade Model 12, it fits me, and suits me right on down to the ground. And by rotating the guns I use almost year around, no one single shotgun gets over-heavy useage- Just my viewpoint of course--
