doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com safe load for 1907 L.C. Smith

I recently bought my first double gun. I beleave it is a 1907 Pigeon grade L.C Smith. 12 gauge,30 inch barrels,ejectors, single selective hunter one trigger.

I would love to be able to turkey hunt with it. i was wondering if the nitro steel barrels will hold up to some kind of turkey load?

thank you.

if steel, the barrels will be fime, unless they have been messed with ....its that 103 year old stock head you have to worry about...LC stocks held up pretty well when new but after over 100 years of swelling, shrinking, having overpowered loads batter that hogged out head Id stick to low pressure loads.....I use RST, Polywad, BP sub sound, loads in my 1906 grade 2...and still worry about the stock...maybe spend another 200 or so and have the head glass bedded??

thanks gunut. i should probably take the ole girl to a gun smith and have it looked over. thanks again

Dcoleinpa,
My 1903 Pigeon E took a 22# bird last year, using #6 trap loads at 25 yards. You don't have to stoke yours with heavy loads, because Smith chokes are really tight.
I'd still have her looked over--- make sure he looks for oil soaking in the head of the stock.

Please see http://www.lcsmith.org/faq/safetoshoot.html and look around the other FAQs

I agree with Gunut and Laxcoach. Recoil is the limiting factor with vintage double guns. L Cs are particularly weak in the stock head due to the amount of wood that must be removed to accommodate the locks. I would limit loads to 1 1/8th ounce of shot at 1200 fps velocity (good trap load) to stay in the 19 to 21 ft pounds of recoil range to be on the safe side.

I would agree with gunut as well except for his technical misunderstanding regarding low pressure loads. Recoil is what causes damage to the head of the stock. So shoot loads which are more like those occuring in the early part of the 1900s. Velocities were less than 1100fps and nothing heavier than 1 3/16oz of shot. (Loads heavier than that were normal for the 2 7/8" 10ga.) Reducing velocity and shot load reduces recoil. I would expect you to be surprised (unless you have already experimented in this area) to find the relatively light loads are every bit as effective,if not superior,in your normal range to the heavy modern loads. Less can actually be more in shotgun performance.

I would not use any kind of turkey load--or any load, for that matter--from Win/Fed/Rem. They're likely to be higher pressure (and, if they're a turkey load, carry a heavier shot charge at greater velocity) than your gun was built to handle. You can either use factory ammo from makers such as those gunut suggested, or if you reload, you can work up low pressure 1 1/8 oz loads at modest velocities.

My 1906 LC Smith catalog has some reloading information in it. It lists the standard 12 ga load as 1 1/4oz of shot with 3 drams of powder. The 10 ga load is listed with the same 1 1/4 oz of shot, but 4 drams of powder. That tells me that a modern 1 1/4 oz, 3dram equivalent load will give the same or less recoil in the 12 ga.(less recoil because of less weight of smokeless powder for the same velocity). Pressure is a different matter, but is not a part of the recoil equation.