The fit and finish on an Ideal is miles above that of an L.C. Smith. I do not think the internals of Smith guns were finished with anything finer than an 80 grit belt, maybe they used worn out horse shoe files, I'm not sure.
I have a hard time ergonomically with the French designs but at least they were built to very high quality. They are nice guns but not something that sings to me for my own use.
a friend has a nice Guyot boxlock I would not mind owning though.
Different strokes for different folks......