doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lengthening 2 1/2 chamber on Nitro Special

When we say frame are we speaking of the entire frame being scaled down or only the standing breech area. There are many guns & particularly in the lower priced bracket which will use the same basic frame but have the standing breech sized for the different gauges. On my Lefevers I have 12ga guns weighing from 6�lbs to 8lbs & with 3 or 4 different firing pin spacings & height of the standing breech but al have the same bar dimensions & essentially the same stock dimensions. This of course doesn't mean the stocks are interchangeable but they are essentially the same size.
As I recall the same situation exists for L C Smith guns as well
When you look at all the "Frame Sizes" listed by Parker Bros I believe also you will find the major variation was only in the standing breech, not the bar not the stocking.
While I do not have experience with the Nitro Special I very highly suspect B Dudley is 100% correct on the cause of cracking.

Your statement about parker frame sizes is no completely correct. All the frame sizes from 000 up to 7 are all different in pretty mich every way. Width at hinge and stock, firing pin spacing, bolster sizes and height of standing breech.
The only frame sizes that share the same frame width is the 1-1/2 and 2.

And the cause of cracking on most all ithaca doubles is the stock loosening up on the action. Drawbolt or not.

Ed, you don't know shit from Shinola about gunsmithing and repairs. You are just mucking up the works for the guys who have serious repair questions and post them here.

lets all baby our old gons wid light loads and tight screws..

Ed while I can see why you erroneously believe that, old guns are made for a variety of pressures and loads. They do not all require light loads. While tight screws for some designs is important, as in a loose tang screw, unskilled people messing with action screws have messed up more guns than I care to think.

Looking at the mangled screws on one of my high grade guns makes me want to club some unknown fool.

It is not wise to counsel this single universal, as you do here.

B Dudley;
I stand corrected on the Parkers, thanks. I am much more knowledgeable on Lefevers & this is true as stated on them. I only have two which are not 12 ga though. One is a 16 with XX frame & it is narrower across the bar, the other is a 10 & it is wider.
As I recall the L C Smith Plans & Specifications book shows same dimensions for the bar on all sizes, with again the standing breech varying.
As s tated I do not have any Nitro Special but suspected this was the case with them as well.

Here you go Miller
http://www.lcsmith.org/images/mechanisms/featherweightframe.jpg
http://www.lcsmith.org/images/mechanisms/regularweightframe.jpg

oc et al: thang is, old gons contain old wood..old wood drys out and becomes more brittle over time...hit don take a rocket scientist to figure out that pounding old brittle wood with heavy recoiling loads is increasing the probability of cracking that old wood...so, lets all try to preserve old wood by babying our old gons...an like da rabbi said: "hit wont hout"...

Those are known as "stack crackers" or "stock splitters". Interestingly I read somewhere that high grades were less susceptible due to more careful fitting and or wood used for stocks. I almost bought one of them Marlin L.C. Smiths made back in late 1960s. It was decent handling gun with what I found interesting aluminum alloy rib. The gun was not heavy like most American 12ga SxS stuff.

I'm surprised that after three pages no one said not to remove metal where it's most needed. I may be wrong, but believe Sherman Bell did some testing and found pressure only went up about 500psi when shooting 2 3/4 in a 2 1/2" 12ga. Because I reload at lower pressures I've never worried about chamber lengths. The OP never came back and said if he reloads.