I will stand behind my statement that the only concerns I would have in firing the 3 3/4-1 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.
Before I knew better, I fired heavy, high dram equivalent 1 1/4 oz. loads in a few L.C. Smith guns including a Grade 2 that had reblued Damascus barrels that I initially thought were fluid steel. I got away with it, but realize now that a steady diet of such loads would likely eventually damage the wood, and the pounding of the bolting surfaces would accelerate wear. Sure, most wear comes from abrasive dirt and friction, but the mushroomed head of a hardened tool steel chisel confirms displacement of metal due to peening.
Another gunsmith who has a good reputation when it comes to L.C. Smith's (and Lefevers) is Buck Hamlin of Missouri. Buck used an old pitted Damascus barreled L.C. Smith in his own endurance tests similar to the famous Sherman Bell Damascus Barrel tests documented in Double Gun Journal. I don't have the exact loads and results handy, but recall that he opened the chambers to 3 1/2" and kept increasing powder charge and payloads until he was well over what would constitute normal proof loads. Before the barrels ruptured with what he called nuclear loads, he did bust the stock, and he did reach a point where the vaunted rotary bolt blew open. Eventually, the entire rib extension ripped loose and the breech was wired shut to complete the destruction. However he was far in excess of any reasonable 2 3/4" factory load at that point.
Everything mechanical has engineering design limits, including guns. An Indy car can go over 220 mph, but the engines are often rebuilt after 500 miles, or even less. So of course, Ted is right about using those heavy field loads in a gun more suited to them. An L.C. Smith stock that could easily withstand 35-40 ft./lbs. of recoil when it was new might not do so well now. Overall, the test of time tells us which guns are the most reliable or the most durable, especially in well used specimens. One only has to spend enough time at gun shops and gun shows to learn which guns have a better chance of remaining tight and on face, or which guns aren't as likely to end up with glued and screwed wood or pins or dowels through the stock cheeks. And there is a reason we don't see a multitude of guys clamoring to buy Crescents or Worthingtons, and why such a large percentage of them have been scrapped or parted out.
