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. Ive 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. Ive 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. Vicknairs 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 didnt come to it by reading magazines on the subject.
I dont really have a good use for the ammunition in the purple box, shown above. But Id likely not run it in any of my good doubles. They cost more to fix. I have an auto loader that was my Dads that would handle it, but, nothing I hunt with a shotgun requires light artillary, or much more than 1 oz of shot.
Best,
Ted
