doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dissassembly of an L.C.Smith?

Personally, I avoid disassembling anything not made to reassemble...

Thanks- you are right- I have a 12 3E and two 12 2E-s the other 12's are either OO or field grade- and you are 100% right about the engraving on the machine screw head that connects the lock plates- and not on the rear trigger plate to top tang screw head, as that is covered up by the trigger guard bow when it is assembled- Also, just FYI-- learned that "usually" with the caveat from years of whatever in life-observation maybe- the pre-1913 Smiths had the two top and bottom rib 'dimples" at the muzzles only on Grades 2 and higher- I bought a nice 'using 12 OO R frame a few months ago at a gun show- 28" M&F, DT, two piece top tang strap, original stock, BP, screws- clean-and the Armor steel barrels read dead nutz at 28" on my Stanley tape rule-- but no 'dimples"-- also a later OO grade, no bushed firing pins (those bushings are a RPA- IMO anyway) the second "torpedo shaped" firing pins- easily removed by removal of the lock plates- and slide out--I find Smiths very easy to work on- assemble and re-assemble easily for me- you can dry fire and recock the action without the barrels and forearm (having the special curved tool to recock the axles helps- the only "Achilles heel' is the expensive repair or replacement of the buttstock if you get cracks in the rear apex of the lock plates- and also the splinter forearm-s very little "meat" around the two wood screws that hold the forearm iron into place at the anvil area-

I had my 3E Elsie apart 3 times that I can remember over the years. The tapered "auger' pin method has worked every time for me but I'm sure the other techniques posted here will work as well. It's just going to boil down to someone's personal choice.
Jim

I use a tapered tool as shown below. It has a 4-40 threaded rod in the end. Insert into the top lever post, tighten and the tapered end guides everything into place and no extra holes in the stock!

Thank you for all your comments. I think I will defer to the capable hands of my gunsmith, who I just spoke to, and is familiar with the top lever issue. The gun in question is a 3E 12 ga.circa 1905,with straight hand grip and 30" nitro steel F&F barrels with ivory front and middle beads. Modern stock dimensions with a very aged Silvers pad which I assume is original.Traces of CC on the action but the barrel blue and stock finish and pad are quite worn
and I have decided a sympathetic restoration is in order.Was wondering if the two ivory beads were standard,a factory option, or after market? Should be a nice piece when done.

That gun sounds like a real beauty. Post some photos when you can.

The ivory beads were a factory option, but could also be an aftermarket addition. I have a 2E with straight grip stock and two barrels. One barrel set is 30" and the other is 28", and both have ivory front and middle beads. The beads certainly look as if they match the age of the gun. Mine also has a thin, aged solid pad with a leather face that loos to be original.

This type worked very well for me

What Tom said. A 1910 Hunter Arms catalog is on the LCSCA site, and does not list ivory beads as an option http://www.lcsmith.org/images/CoverCatalog1910.pdf
I'm not sure when they were first available.
Starting in about 1920, sportsmen could order any grade of L.C. Smith with a �trap package� which included a beavertail forend (the Schnabel beavertail forend was introduced in 1922), reinforced barrel lug, automatic ejectors, selective Hunter One-Trigger, recoil pad (usually a Hawkins or Jostam), and two ivory beads (usually Lyman).

And after about 1926, the Gifford Simmons designed ventilated rib. IMO, everything about a so-optioned LC Smith double trap or live bird 12 bore from that "Golden Era' was well designed for both form and function, except that bulky Schnabel (German word for beak) beavertail forearm. I don't, at present anyway, have any Smiths with a middle bead sight, and if I did, I would remove them-- for my vision and target- whether clay or wearing feathers, I only want to see the muzzle and front bead as a blur as I am tracking the target- but then, I don't shoot a pre-mounted gun as perhaps the trapshooters do- I use the "stock tucked under the armpit- muzzles up- as I learned from the Ken Davies Holland & Holland videos--but to each his own I guess- that's why so many options were available for the finest sidelock double gun ever made in America!!!