A few points here. First as I believe every regular here knows I am a Lefever fan & not a Smith Aficionado. While Yes I stated the rotary bolt was seldom fitted to serve its intended function in both planes I am convinced the Smith frame is plenty strong without the benefit of the second function of the rotary bolt. Generally speaking the barrels are bolted solidly to the frame, its the longitudinal portion which lacks in the fitting department.
While true I have heard of Smiths opening on their own I will have to say I have known a lot of folks who would have Nothing But a Smith & do not personally know of anyone who had that problem with them. If they did they certainly kept their mouths shut about it.
I will stand behind my statement that the only concerns I would have in firing the 3 3/4-1Ľ load from a good condition would be the old stock wood & recoil if it was a light weight one. The frame & barrels will take it.
Again "IF" I had a L C Smith which needed "Smithing" I would want a good man doing it. "IF" he refused he would simply get no more work from me. If I wanted a Jack Leg doing the work I could do it myself. In fact I have actually worked on a few Smiths. No reason I can see that anyone would refuse to work on one other than Absolute Pure Prejudice, not truly a good Quality for a Gunsmith in my "Not So Humble Opinion".
