The recent thread on the rather unusually configured Ithaca NID Grade 3E, got me thinking about the order of extra cost options and how commonly they occur on old American doubles. I'll discount recoil pads and twin ivory beads, and keep it to the four major ones -- automatic ejectors, single trigger, beavertail forearm, and vent rib.
While I have certainly never kept any meaningful figures to support this, my gut feeling is that if a gun has ONE option it will most likely be automatic ejectors. If it has TWO options they will most likely be automatic ejectors and a single selective trigger. If a gun has THREE options they will be automatic ejectors, a single trigger and a beavertail forearm. Finally in the FOUR option category, when you find that classic American double with a vent rib, it will normally have the other three options.
I have certainly seen every possible combination and permutation of the above options, and own a couple of them, but I feel this is the way it is most often. Anyone have a different opinion on the order of options?
Factory original Monte Carlos or cheek pieces appear so infrequently on classic American doubles I can probably count all I've ever seen without taking my shoes off.
