I've owned several Elsies that had small cracks behind the lockplates. None ever seemed to get much worse. I'd assume the damage was done by someone firing heavy recoiling loads in them. Considering the thin sections in the inletting of an Elsie, it's amazing that more of them aren't busted. I've seen a lot of Parkers and Remingtons with pins, dowels, carriage bolts, etc. through the stock cheeks, because the butt stock split. I've also owned and seen quite a few Lefevers that had wood split or missing in the thin fragile fingers above and below the sideplates where the wood meets the action. Ithaca Flues guns seem especially prone to having chunks of wood split out at the top of the action on either side of the upper tang. Some of these problems are inherent in the design, but most are exacerbated by use of heavy loads, loose screws, stock oil soaking, and other abuse. Others could have been foreseen because of the incorrect grain flow in the stocks.
