There are more than a few good gunsmiths that dislike working on Smiths. Ask Abe Chaber & Paul Hodgins what they think of the design. I know Paul won't even consider taking on any work when it comes to Elsie's and I'm pretty sure Abe is the same. And before you go off on Paul for being a gunsmithing snob......he absolutely loves colt 1911's, browning superposed, Winchester lever actions & pump guns, etc. He actually likes some American doubles too, although he usually refers to the inner workings as crude (which many of them are, let's be honest), but he can appreciate the ingenuity and simplicity. Parkers & Remington's he thinks are very good.
I had a conversation with Freddy Bruner years ago and even he had a few negative things to say about them (I had a field grade Elsie that needed work, top lever spindle screw broke), and if your a Elsie guy, you know who Freddy Bruner is.
Anyone with half a brain can understand why we like our American doubles. Why are they important to us despite being simple and crude and at times inferior to other gun designs? Well, because they're ours I suppose. We are nostalgic bunch and while we look at, use and enjoy them, our minds undoubtedly go into a mode thinking about the past, "the good old days", a hard working blue collar first generation American making guns in an old factory. A small farm tucked away in the heartland, the farmer walking a weedy patch with his prized nitro special hoping for a rooster to flush...a guy sitting on a central flyway marsh in the early 1900's with a long barreled, American made double, probably a 00 Elsie taking a limit of Mallards or even a goose for Christmas dinner, the old timey pics of the group of guys on the prairie, model A in the background, holding their prairie chickens with old American made doubles cradled in their arms..it warms the heart and makes us happy and proud, that in itself is more than enough to justify our passion for our American made guns.