doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com #7.5 vs #8 Shot Performance in the Field

This reminds me of a flat of non-US made ammunition I bought a few years ago. This was very powerful and heavy recoiling ammunition made in Denmark. I only purchased it because it was incredibly cheap. I used them on a pheasant hunt on one occasion in my Brno SxS in 12 gauge. My hunting partner and I later dubbed the shells the "Hammer of Thor" given the recoil and the effect it had on the rising rooster.

4 - 1 1/2 - 4

That's got to be pushing 1300 fps. A 3 3/4 - 1 5/8 is 1280. Man, that is a pterodactyl load. No wonder it hit hard on both ends.

I've heard of the performance of the old Activ loads on crows from one of my friends. Can't wait to try some.

SRH

Ted S,
As usual your advice is seriously flawed. Gentlemen load them in a good L.C. Smith Pigeon Grade gun and shoot them up. Clean & oil the gun properly when you are done shooting. Have fun!

RGD/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Special Ordered L.C. Smith Pigeon Grade 12 gauge - My Grandfathers favorite bird gun.

I can remember the 2 3/4" "Baby Magnum" coming on the market. As I recall inthose dys the dram equivelent was not marked on them they simply said Max. The 3 3/4DE*1�oz load listed @ 1330 FPS & the Max-1�oz load was around 1300 FPS as I recall. I was Young & Foolish at the time so bought a few of them & as long as the gun had "Steel" barrels I would shoot them in it. I did not shoot a lot of them but had no problem with the ones I shot. Some of the guns I shot them from I would definitely not do so today.

Only real concern I would have with a heavier Smith would be the Wood. This not because i=of its reputation but because the wood is old. This would hold true of other older doubles as well, including the Box Locks. I once had a pre 1913 00E Smith with a perfectly sound stock, no cracks that I ever saw & I did look it over closely. This was another gun that had been rode pretty hard.

I don't believe in abusing anything, including guns, but some do carry conservatism to a ridiculous extreme.

Dave you are a very lucky man....

I agree with jOe; that is one fine shotgun and the family connection just adds that much more to it.

I have my great grandfather's L.C. Smith, but it is only suitable for hanging on the wall.

If I'm hunting only grouse, I choose 7.5 all day long. If I know the area has more Woodcock I'd choose 8's. 7/8 ounce in a 20 gauge. 1200 FPS.

Miller,
The only real concern with the LC Smith is pretty much everything. Pointed out by a few, including you, is the fact the Brown rotary bolt is almost NEVER properly fitted to both sides. I�ve seen more than one that was �self opening�, but, not in the way our English brothern use the term. To be fair, neither gun was new, but, neither had been rode hard and put away wet from what I could see.
Many are the reports of the damn things going off on closing, something I have not actually seen, but, my hunting buddy Lloyd has, enough that he mentioned it when the subject of �Sweet Elsie� came up at camp. Lloyd also reports the �Smith WILL go off if it falls to the ground when it is loaded. I suppose more than one gun design falls into that category, however, and would be trumped by safe handling. I�ve never seen that one, either.
I have no reason to doubt him. He spent years in a good gun shop in the trade.
If one actually READS the list of things wrong with the design, top to bottom, on Mr. Vicknair�s blog, and squares it with the years and effort he puts into making guns of all kinds right, and the results he gets, it becomes much harder to continue to make excuses for the �Smith.
I consider a lowly Tobin better than the �Smith, for the simple reason that even though the frame is weak, the top bolt will keep the gun shut after the shot, no matter how hard, or long the gun has been used, and it takes a pretty deliberate tug on the trigger to get the Tobin to go off.
My opinion only. But, I didn�t come to it by reading magazines on the subject.

I don�t really have a good use for the ammunition in the purple box, shown above. But I�d likely not run it in any of my good doubles. They cost more to fix. I have an auto loader that was my Dad�s that would handle it, but, nothing I hunt with a shotgun requires light artillary, or much more than 1 oz of shot.

Best,
Ted

A few points here. First as I believe every regular here knows I am a Lefever fan & not a Smith Aficionado. While Yes I stated the rotary bolt was seldom fitted to serve its intended function in both planes I am convinced the Smith frame is plenty strong without the benefit of the second function of the rotary bolt. Generally speaking the barrels are bolted solidly to the frame, its the longitudinal portion which lacks in the fitting department.

While true I have heard of Smiths opening on their own I will have to say I have known a lot of folks who would have Nothing But a Smith & do not personally know of anyone who had that problem with them. If they did they certainly kept their mouths shut about it.

I will stand behind my statement that the only concerns I would have in firing the 3 3/4-1� load from a good condition would be the old stock wood & recoil if it was a light weight one. The frame & barrels will take it.

Again "IF" I had a L C Smith which needed "Smithing" I would want a good man doing it. "IF" he refused he would simply get no more work from me. If I wanted a Jack Leg doing the work I could do it myself. In fact I have actually worked on a few Smiths. No reason I can see that anyone would refuse to work on one other than Absolute Pure Prejudice, not truly a good Quality for a Gunsmith in my "Not So Humble Opinion".

If a guy tells me he doesn�t want to work on a �Smith, and he is the top Darne mechanic in the new world, you can bet he will get some work from me.
A guy telling you he honestly wants someone else to work on your Purdey, or, �Smith, or, Darne, while you know he has great talent on a different make of double, is probably just being honest, and doing you a favor.

Best,
Ted