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topgun:

I've received some very good detailed information from the Cody staff over the years on the 30 or so L.C. Smith letters that I've received.....some better than others of course, but usually had the basic information as on the pictured Cody letters below as a minimum.......

You're probably right about the chamber details in the factory ledgers, but like you said, "never say never"...?....

I think Cody uses more than just the "shipping ledgers" for their factory letter composition, I believe they also have some factory manufacturing records that came from William S. Brophy's famous dumpster diving records retrieval back when he was the Senior Technical Advisor at the Marlin Factory......

Quote from William Brophy's "L.C. Smith Shotguns" book, The Gun Room Press 1st printing 1977............."Brophy happened by the old L.C. Smith workshop portion of the Marlin Factory as workmen were emptying the contents of old cabinets into the trash bin....Aware of the existence of the old records, curiosity led Brophy to examine the documents slated for destruction......They were the ENTIRE set of PRODUCTION and SHIPPING records from all the old L.C. Smith companies".........

Of course, the records were saved and their reconstruction led to the creation of William S. Brophy's L.C. Smith Shotgun book......

I also have some older Factory letters that I received directly from William S. Brophy at Marlin before Cody or anybody else had any L.C. Smith or Marlin records......William Brophy was quite congenial and friendly towards sportsmen and gun owners regarding factory letters on L.C. Smiths and Antique Marlin rifles, I think he enjoyed his job ......there was NO charge back in those days when the Kenna family owned it all.......

Going to bring this thread to the top again. Had a good gunsmith measure the chambers on this 16 ga. They do indeed measure at 2 3/4....... Whether or not they are factory standard is anybody's guess. But they are not marked. What is unmistakeable is the long, smooth, transition from chamber to bore. As with the chokes.....So perfectly honed, and polished;
someone at the factory knew their job well.
And speaking of chokes; this gun reminds me of a 12 Ga. JP Sauer I own, that has extremely tight chokes---extra full on the right barrel, and a lot tighter on the left.
I set up a target at a taped 25 yards; and the more open barrel of this Elsie put ALL the pellets from an RST #71/2 PaperLite into a 12" circle! Gonna' be a little tight for skeet..... My son and I kicked out a few clays with the Trius One Step..... Now he wants to try a few rounds of trap at the local sportsman's club.
Once again, thanks for all the responses to this thread......
Going to go find a few more old ladies' closets to plunder..
Grant.

Grant, in looking up your serial number, it is from 1936, and in this year the 20 gauge went from 2 1/2" to 2 3/4". As Tom Martin stated, unless there were shorter or longer chambers made in a time when the standards were either 2 1/2" or 2 3/4", then there would be a chamber stamp showing such on the barrels water table.
Most of the 16 gauges in 1936 were 2 9/16" chambers, and I have one from 1939 that still has 2 9/16" chambers. This was also the first year noted in a catalog of the SSP or Single Sighting Plane which was a higher rib and was an option of $5.00 extra.

As to the chokes, unless ordered different, they were sent from the factory with full/full no matter what grade or gauge.

I do believe that yours was opened to 2 3/4".

The fact that it is a 1936 says the chambers were lengthend and cones if they are long as described. I have never opened chambers, but rather had the cones lengthened. Accomplishes almost the same thing without taking possibly too much metal at the chambers end.

David; when did the Smith 16 bores get away from .650 to what? My 1931 16 has .650 bores and my 1945 .667.

2holer, the latest one that I have with .650 bores is 1927, a Specialty Grade. I would say that sometime in the 1930'S.

I recently bought a 16 ga Smith made about 1929 or 30. Generally good condition, though it appears to have had the barrels reblued (the barrel markings are only barely legible) and a numbe of the screws have been buggered. Is there a source of new screws whith out having a gunsmith or machinest make new ones?

Numrich Gun Parts has all the L.C. replacement screws you want in stock.......schematic + 7 pages and part numbers attached........

Good people, fast service, good prices..........

You can order via email or on the phone.......

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Products.aspx?catid=3053

Best,

Ah! So interesting researching these old shotguns. JDW; I apologize. In my first post I inadvertantly listed my serial number as being in the 144xxx range.... In a later post I correctly listed it as being in the 178xxx range. This LC Smith shotgun, serial number: Fw 178048 is listed on the LCSCA website as being manufactured in 1939. The chart on this site claims it was made in 1938...... Confusing, but I am happy you replied to this thread. Your comments on the Single Sighting Plane prompted me to measure the rib. The height of my rib measures 1/4 inches above the barrels, at a point 12 inches ahead of the chamber end; near the middle bead. Due to your information, I'm thinking my gun has the optional high rib.
One other question, and I'll probably have more.....Both barrels are marked ahead of the flats: Armor Steel LLH. Do I have some kind of odd barrels made from Belgian blanks???
Thanks for all the good information...Grant.

Claybird, in obtaining replacement screws, the problem is that with most of them, the screw slot will not orientate to the line of the gun. To most people, this is better than looking at buggered screws. It is a time comsuming job to make them to orientate to the gun. The heads have to be made longer, a slot put in them, tightened in the gun, then mark the correct position of the slot, back to the lathe, cut the head to the right depth of the screw hole, and then cut another slot, then blue it. I just use Oxpho Blue giving it a coat or two.


Grant, if your rib is higher than the old flat or concave rib, then it does have the SSP rib.
The barrels were most likely Belgium with the LLH markings, and hopefully soon Dr.Drew will come on and give you the story on them.