doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com A nice Smith

Certainly not alarming crack(s?). I have certainly fixed much worse.

Can someone zoom in on it (left side lock) to the max and take a screen shot to post? I don't know how.

Thanks, SRH

I still would like too see that crack......... that goes into the wrist.

I must need stronger glasses.

Double click on pic, then click on the "magnifying glass" with the "+" inside it, upper right of screen, to really enlarge it. I see no crack. You?



SRH

I can see something behind the right lock that may be a hair line crack.
Karl

Thank you, David. I have Cody letters on my 3 pre-1913 numerical graded (except the Pigeon Grade) 12 bores- MY 2E left Fulton in 1911- the Pigeon (DT-EJ_ english grip stock style) in 1909, and the 4E- (1900) that gun was re-fitted with 28" London steel ejector barrels and splinter FE) it originally had chain Damascus barrels)--

I just had my annual eye exam- at age 77- 20/15 right eye, 20/20 left- both working as a pair- 20/20. I am right handed, so I guess my right eye is my master eye.

The Pigeon grade has 28" barrels, and is choked IC/IMP-MOD- the others are choked M&F--

I am going to look over that crown grade with a 10X magnifier, my friend Stan noted that he might need new reading glasses-maybe I do also-- see what hairline cracks I might discern. As this Crown grade has the optional HOT, we must remember that more wood is removed between the locks in the stock head, to all the extra room for fitting the HOT-- we shall see- If that Crown grade is free of stock cracks, and no problems with the HOT, I could see it fetching $7500 to the right buyer-- RWTF

Francis, the Cody letters are kind of vague in their description. The Research Letters from L.C.S.C.A. give all that was written in the ledger.

As to your Pigeon grade or any other gun that has an extra set of barrels ordered from the factory, the price of the barrels was half the price of the gun for the same type of steel. Many times you will hear of extra barrels that are of a lower grade of steel and so they cost less.

Right side looks to have a crack that extends into the checkering. The engraving and stamps on the barrels look "soft" to me, maybe re-blued?

I see a split on one side that runs out to at least the checkering.......I see possibly 2 splits on the other side and maybe some feathering between them.

I have no dog in this debate but wonder if the fix to this would actually be cost prohibitive and would it mess with existing external finishes.......my guess is no unless they loose a chip of wood pulling the gun apart?

I have only seen a limited number of LCs , some with spits at the end of the lock plates but never one split through or unusable, Crescents, yes.

It's still not obvious to me on the left side but I certainly wouldn't deny it's there. Smiths are more prone to those type cracks than some other sidelocks, and we know why. My eyes just aren't what they once were, even with "readers".

Having those minute cracks properly repaired is not a cost prohibitive venture at all. A good stocker can also hide the surface evidence of the cracks. I've done so myself, on a side plated Verona, though in my case it was pure luck, not skill. That said, the cracks absolutely reduce the value of that nice gun.

SRH

The crack on the right side clearly extends into the checkering, and there are also small chips in the wood behind the lock.

I can see two small tight cracks behind the left lockplate. They are much easier for me to see when I look at them on my cell phone, and expand the pic, than when I exlarge the pic on my computer monitor.

I've fired L.C. Smith's with this type of stock cracking without making matters worse, so I assume that the cause of this type of cracking might be due to the repeated use of loads that are inappropriate for an old vintage L.C. Smith. I'd be a lot more concerned that the barrels might blow up and send a piece of shrapnel into a child's skull, and then have to explain to a Judge in a Civil Suit, why I failed to measure the barrel wall thickness in a place where they cannot be measured.