Posted by SGT on October 16, 2006, 8:37 am, in reply to "Re: more bad luck"
The other posters are correct, all pre-1913 Smith guns built on the regular frame; as well as very early post-1913 regular frame Smith guns have a two-piece top tang. I cannot tell you why this feature was originally placed into production, nor why Hunter later changed production to a one-piece top tang; but a very knowlegeable gunsmith smith friend of mine tells me the one-piece top tang is much stronger, and he has converted several pre-1913 Smith guns to the one-piece tang. I have never observed a featherweight Smith gun with a two-oiece top tang; and it is entirely possible that Hunter realized, with their development of this smaller frame, that a two-piece top tang was not necessary and ultimately made the same conversion on their larger frames. We may never know.