Hey all,
I popped into a small lgs yesterday and saw a nice looking LC Smith Field grade sitting on the shelf. I asked to take a look and broke it all down.
Gun is a 12ga, 30" barrels, M/F chokes and it has ejectors! It felt good to mount and had decent case coloring and almost all bluing. I checked the chambers and they were 2 3/4" on the nose. The wood is in average shape but the area behind the locks is sound.
The issues I found were some minor external pitting right at the muzzle and the butt plate was poorly replaced with one made for a curved stock (it doesn't sit flat obviously)
I'm going to stop in again this week with some empty hulls and check for ejector timing and function.
My questions are, as this would be my first Elsie, what else should I look for and what should I pay for it? They have it tagged for $1199 and I'm sure they know that's high. I feel like $900-$1000 would be more realistic?
Thanks,
Pat
