Eightbore: You're absolutely right. The expression "hen's teeth" come to mind, which is exactly why I abandoned my search (& about 30-years ago now) for a "domestic" doublegun to satisfy my "needs" (i.e., wants) for a more-perfect birdgun. Very few (if any) of the American double-guns from our "classic" period would meet those requirements (for long, light, lovely & relatively safe).
The LC Smith 3-position safety is fine in the hands of a well-seasoned and knowledgeable shooter, but in the hands of an amatuer (or even an uninformed) shooter it is a recipe for disaster IMHO. I guess I'm thinking of the "dickybird" type of safety that you'd likely find in a better English doublegun, which very simply & effectively acts as a trigger block (& there are evidently some that reportedly block the hammers as well?). I know it's both unreasonable (and unrealistic) to impose the designs (and then the execution of those designs) from hand-made guns to mass-produced or "machine-made" guns, but there you have it. And, of all the guns from our classic-period (Fox, LeFever, Ithaca, Remington, Parker, etc.) only the "Elsie" has the well-earned reputation for going off when badly-jarred or dropped. Evidently, even simple American boxlock designs aren't as sensitive to such a shock as sidelock guns are, and of-course, the Brits (& the others) have simply engineered around that problem.
Last edited by Lloyd3; 08/07/23 04:51 PM.
