"Any idea who the engraver was? The dogs and bird would have me guessing Loy, but, it is just a guess."
The gun is an early auto-ejector gun (Type I) with a three digit serial number that would date the gun to 1892. I believe Spangler was head of Hunter's engraving shop at that time; and since Albert Kraus didn't join the company until 1895, my guess would be the gun is Spangler engraved.
"My guess is.................the replacement barrels were not fit up correctly." Based on another pic I have showing the top of the frame, the replacement barrels were certainly not correctly fitted, as there is a gap between the standing breech and barrel breeches and the rib extension is too short and doesn't fit the frame cut (and they've also been shortened-the gun was originally shipped with 30" barrels). As Hunter's Type I auto-ejector are problematic, I've suggested to the owner that he find a later set of 30" OOE Grade barrels with Type II ejector iron and have those barrels fitted to his frame. It's not uncommon to find an A-1 Grade Smith gun with a factory fitted Type II ejector iron (have owned one myself); and I've seen two A-1 guns with a second factory fitted set of OO Grade barrels. Anyone who studies Smith guns is aware that Hunter Arms would install a lower grade set of barrels to a higher grade gun on customer request; and given that extra barrel sets were typically priced at 1/2 the cost of a given gun grade, customers often made such request to save a few bucks. That said, the current owner is dead set on keeping his A-1 barrels and having then correctly fitted.
