As an aside, I have never seen a Purdey with a bolt through the head of the stock. Ive lost count of how many times Ive seen Parkers repaired that way.
Ted, sidelocks begin life with a bolt through the stock and the lockplates act as reinforcing to that part of the stock. Thats one of the main reasons youll seldom see a Lefever head split.
Take a good, hard, look at the amount of wood left under the lock plates on the Purdey, pictured above. The bolt has some material to work with to hold the gun together.
The Lefever has more wood than an LC Smith, but less than either a Purdey or a Holland. It isnt real hard to find any of the American guns named here, with wood problems. To be fair, they are all getting pretty old.
The Parker has a splitting maul bolted to the front of the wood. They will all fail, eventually.
Best,
Ted
