doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com L C Smith question.

I have been looking at a lot of L C Smith shotgun information lately.
One thing that I have not been able to get a definitive answer on is the barrel jointing & hook & rib fixing.

Are they soft soldered or brazed ?
How is the lump with hook attached to the barrels ? Dovetail method, or what ?

I have seen both methods mentioned & would like to know the truth of the matter.
Did it change over time & from Syracuse to Fulton factories ?
O.M

Brazed



Hunter Arms factory.



Brazing lower left

Thank you Drew, that is the lump brazed but does that include the top & bottom ribs as well ?
I can only see a brazing department, but from that I can only still presume on the ribs themselves.
O.M

Also, from looking at that construction method it seems as though the hook & pin does not take the recoil loading like in the Purdy under bite system.
Is that true ?
Is the load taken mainly by the extension & rotating bolt lock ?
O.M

Look, I have never seen one of these things in the flesh, or, metal.

The breech area is brazed. Everything else is soft soldered.

Right! thank you. now I have an answer.
May be because of that it is the reason why I have seen references to both brazing & soldering.
I was wondering if, like some Spanish guns, the whole lot was brazed together.
O.M

I cannot say this is true about ALL smith guns, but on the ones i have had apart, the forend lug is 2 pcs and it straddles the barrels and fastened with a screw from the top side under the upper rib. So, it cannot come loose. Or be removed without taking off the top rib.

As originally designed by Alexander Brown the Rotary Bolt was intended to bear on both the lower & rear surfaces of the Rib Extension. Bearing on the lower surface of course kept the barrels closed, that on the rear was to hold the standing breech "Up TO" the barrel breeches, helping absorb the axial load.

Several yeas ago a discussion of this came up here on the board. A number of Smith owners did a "Smoke Test" of the fit of their rotary bolts. As I recall None found a fit to the rear thus negating that function. In this case the entire Axial load would be carried by the Hinge Pin & barrel under lug.

In Brophy's "Plans and Specifications of the L.C. Smith" it shows a drawing of the screw that Brian is talking about. It is a 7-32 thread and must have been a shop made die as I cannot find any information on that thread even in my Machinist Handbook.

The drawing is from 1918 and I don't know when they stopped using it but on the later guns it does not appear.
A friend had his for-end loop fall off and looking at it there was no broken screw or a threaded hole.
The loop is not dovetailed but has a "V" shaped area to rest on the curve on the top to rest on the barrels.