Thankee Rev- "Ain't No Sunshine When It Rains- or Pains"- I recently bought a Syracuse L.C. Smith O Grade- mfg. aprox 1892 with 30" Damascus barrels- the early roll style extractor, double triggers, three position safety- and the main cocking springs are oriented just as you presented in your "Smoke and Mirrors" fotos herein- I have three 12 gauge pre-1913 "Elsies", and am looking at a fourth- a 1909 Grade 3E 12 (the ONLY gauge for little old me) with ejectors and Hunter One Trigger-if I buy it it will be my first Smith with that feature- and personally, I don't give a Famous Flying Philadelphia Fig which way the mainsprings are set in the sidelocks, as long as it goes "BANG" when I release the safety and hit the trigger-Ask Destry Hoffard-I spend my time and money (love being retired) on "using guns" that fit me and with which I can kill birds in flight, and I don't waste my $ on groups that dwell forever on "How much mustard Sam Hunter's wife put on his bologna sandwich that she packed in his lunch pail back in 1917 in beautiful Fulton, NY. RWTF. If the mechanism works reliably, WTF difference does the metallurgical analysis or the shape of the spring or bridle or sear angle of engagement matter- as Buck Hamlin once told me, "If a spring is gonna break, it will "first shot outta the box"- if its been in the gun for 80 years and hasn't failed, baring a nuclear attack, it will last indefinately- So Be It!!
Last edited by Run With The Fox; 04/26/09 01:28 PM.
