doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com L.C.Smith Case Color

I am working to restore a #3 L.C. So far the stock is almost done and I am thinking about the action. Orginally it was nickle plated and I was wondering what there is in this knowledge base regarding having the plating restored. I looked at Turnbull and there was nothing mentioned on the site.

That's a new one on me. Never heard nor seen a nickle plated Elsie. Chopper

One will find many old Elsies from which the case hardening colors have long since faded away. Some well meaning owners will buff the actions until the bare metal shines and resembles nickel plating.

I tend to agree with the above. All of the Number 3 guns that I have seen or looked at photographs of, were color cased. I found no mention of nickel-plating as an option in any of my reference books. JMHO.

Kind regards,

There are no references of nickel plating being done at Hunter Arms, however one gentleman on the L.C. Smith site can attest that he saw an L.C. Smith nickel plated by Ithaca Gun Co. when he visited them and that they stated this work was done by them. Hunter's policy stated that you could get anything within reason.

This gun is a 1927 Ideal Grade and it certainly looks nickel plated as the engraving is still sharp and not rolled by buffing.


So with any L.C. Smiths never say never.

Plating has been found as a factory option on LC Smith shotguns. I found a Number 3E that looks to be plated. In fact I looked at it again the other day and think that it is plated. The Sousa LC was Silver plated if I recall correctly. I think you will find that anything a person wanted and was willing to pay for was available from the builders of the LC Smith shotguns.

Regards
M.L.

This is a 1929 Specialty that may have been nickel plated by Hunter Arms





Others are out there. This is part of a letter I received from Bruce Miller in NY regarding a nickle plated gun he took to the Ithaca factory for restoration

"NEVER say NEVER when it comes to a Smith. Had you been able to speak with the men at Ithaca, you would have been educated in short order about just how small the gun community was. Equipment was shared as were employees. These guys knew each other and they swapped technology. As I shared previously, the moment the plates came off my guns the Ithaca boys knew exactly who had finished my two guns. They spoke of these two men as if they worked at Ithaca and had gone out for lunch."

It's all conjecture however until Dr Jim Stubbendieck finds documentation in the Hunter Arms records.

M.L.

If you are referring to the Sousa gun in the Houchin's book, we have that gun in the collection of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. It was/is case colored.

Kind regards,

JDW, Your Ideal Grade sure appears to have at least some case color remaining. I have noticed through the years that for some reason, one seldom sees vivid case colors on otherwise pristine Ideal Grades. I have 2 Ideals in 12 and 20 ga. that are in excellent original condition but both have fairly weak case colors. I did pick up a decent field grade Smith a couple years ago that is nickel plated. I considered it to be an aftermarket finish and have intended to strip the nickel and restore it for use as a shooter. I don't recall any mention of nickel as an original finish in Brophys' book.

Keith ,
Those colors you see are shadow colors. Both sideplates are shiny. I almost passed on this gun because of the nickel plating and of some repair work it had on the stock(long crack), but they were done very well and the in-letted area was glas-bedded. The price was very good for an ejector gun. Plus it shoots nice.

Brophy's book does not mention nickel plating but work was sent to Ithaca for this type of work, also in a 1948 Repair Price List from the L.C. Smith Gun Co. there is reference of Blue Locks and Frame....$12.50. So if your case colors were worn off you could have it blued, and I have a 1924 Long Range Wildfowl that has just that. Maybe they did it and maybe they didn't.