Do not shoot steel shot through an ORIGINAL L C Smith SXS...... Like Tom Archer pointed out, if you open the chokes up to almost wide open cylinder choke the barrels can take the steel shot BUT have you ever felt the recoil from a modern 2 and 3/4 inch 12 gauge steel shot load ???? The recoil from one of these modern 2 and 3/4 inch steel shot loads would surely break or split an ORIGINAL L C Smith butt stock..... posted by Jent on October 5th of 2018.