doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lc Smith Stock maker

Does Steve do re-stocks? He is a good guy to deal with.

I am not taking work at the moment, too backed up. I do restock guns, though I'm not terribly interested in restocking another LC Smith. These days I do mostly restoration on British sporting guns and rifles and am booked up for the foreseeable future. Thank you for thinking of me though.

Jerry,
If you are still a member of the California side by side society contact Clark that lives in elk Grove ca. He may be still doing stock work.
Ken

Dan May, Classic Firearms, near Rochester, NY has also stocked many an LC. Worth a call.

Ken, Clark will restock LC Smiths, but will not do a HOT trigger gun.
Harry

Dennis Earl Smith, The Stock Doctor, puts multiple pins or dowels in his stock repairs, probably are much stronger than the original wood could ever be. If this is a mental thing, then take care of it. Good luck.
JR

You are talking about a design that was marginal to begin with. Looking at the head of an LC Smith stock when it is off the gun has always left me wondering if the guys who did the stocks were paid piece rate along with the rest of the workers. There is almost nothing holding the damn thing on to the gun, or, together. A good stock maker will correct some of that, and fit it so there is more wood left in the head to support the action.

Sadly, I know many more gunsmiths who don’t work on or restock LC Smiths then those who do.

Take it for what it is.

Best,
Ted

A couple of years ago I purchased a 20ga LC from a guy older than me from the Warsaw MO area. He had the original stocks and a beautiful new set on the gun. The old set as in almost perfect shape but he wanted a new set. He told me he was friends with the man that had been the head stocker, I believe, when either Fajen or Bishop closed. He was still in the business and made the stock for him friend to friend. If I can find the info I will let you know the details. It may take a couple of days to dig it out if I still have it.

Ted,

I had an old friend who stocked many guns in his day and worked for another local gunmaker near me. He always said there was a special room in the LC Smith factory where they cracked all the new stocks just before they shipped them. He was also famous for his quips to customers who complained about his prices. One day a man came in to buy a plug for a Remington 870 and Harley said it would be six dollars. The customer said so and so sold them for three dollars but was out of them. Harley said he sold them for two dollars when he was out of them.

To be truthful, most of all the London best sidelocks I worked on or restocked had at least one crack in the webbing in the head of the stock. After years of oils soaking into the head of a stock will ruin the wood and make it weak. In the same breath I will say that every Smith I worked on, less than 50, were cracked.

James,
A gunsmith guy I know would tell you that restocking less than 50 LC Smiths was still about 49 too many. I would tell you I never knew that fact until guys like him and you did it, and then told me about it.

A lot of guys have told me about it. More than 50, I would say, but, to a large degree, they aren’t with us anymore.

Wonderful to see you posting.

Merry Christmas, James.

Best,
Ted