When I was on the road, and in the Florence area, I would stop by and visit Mr. Kelly at every opportunity; and always made a point to visit his shop on my way to the Southern. He always had a few interesting doubles on the rack, and our conversations were interesting. So, and based on those visits and conversations, about 10-12 years ago I entrusted my B and C grade SAC guns to his care for some minor work; the exact details of which I no longer recall, but the one thing I do remember is how dismayed I was when the guns were returned and I saw the safety slide on my C Syracuse installed backwards. Maybe one of Mr. Kelly's subordinates did the work (?), but regardless of who that may have been the work was substandard; and since it wasn't done right the first time I paid Buck Hamlin to fix the gun correctly rather than risk having the gun damaged by incompetence. My post is not meant to disparage Mr. Kelly, only to relate my personal experience; perhaps whoever it was in his shop who did the work was unfamiliar with SAC guns, or maybe someone was having a bad day; but that event marked my last visit to Florence, SC for gunsmithing. Sometime afterwards an LCSCA member and friend purchased an A-2 Smith that had been restocked and restored at Mr. Kelly's shop; the restoration was poorly done in my opinion. My advice to the original poster would be to be very, very careful.
