Originally Posted By: Drew Hause
This is a (cracked) pre-1913 Regular frame. The rotary bolt, the top lever spindle, the safety and the cocking cams all require removal of wood, and the width of the vertical channel for the spindle is usually larger than necessary. It is fair to say the inadequate wood surface in contact with the action is a design deficiency



At some point Hunter Arms appears to have caught on and cut a thicker stock head; a 1936 Reg. frame



Left - 1921 16g FW frame vertical head strip thickness averages .085.
Right -1942 12g FW frame Field strips average .110 thickness.



That said, fit and finish was somewhat better with pre-1913 Smiths than post-1913, and 1930s-40s Smiths. Lots of pre-1913 Smiths out there without cracks.




Oh man. I kinda puke in my mouth a little every time I see a Elsies stock inletting. Ive owned a couple of them over the years...Ive actually shot all if them pretty well too, and I like the way they look externally and some of the unique features (rod cocking, etc) but the stock design and some of the Elsies engineering is just rubbish :-(.