I recently received my grandfather's 1913 Ideal Grade L.C. Smith 12 ga. It is in wonderful condition with all original parts and only minor wear. 26" bbls, mod & full. Shot very little. It is in a lovely hard leather oval trunk case with his initials on it. He was 19 years old in 1913.I took the gun to Heritage Arms in Salt Lake City. They took it apart completely, gave it a thorough cleaning and checkout, and added a recoil pad since the stock had been shortened, apparently for my grandfather.
Their insurance apparaisal came back at $2500 for the gun and case, although he cautioned that might be a little high. He stated that he rarely sees this old a gun in this good condition and that's why he gave it a little bump.
I got a Cody letter but it didn't give me any information I did not know.
Heritage Arms said it would be fine to shoot, but suggested <3 dram loads of 7 1/2's or 8's. He also suggested trying to find some shells shorter than 2 3/4" since today's plastic shells extract a little harder than the paper shells the gun was designed for.
I found some 2 1/2" #8 Sellier & Beloit 2 3/4 dram loads at Cabellas and bought a couple of boxes.
Last night I went out with a boy scout to help him with his shotgun merit badge, and when he was through, I broke out my LC.
What a joy to shoot! It has been about 30 years since I shot a SxS double, as I am left eye dominant shooting right handed, and the wide sight plane messed me up (unless I closed my left eye). Nonetheless, I concentrated on good pointing and busted a bunch of clays. The LC has a nice soft recoil impulse with those S&B loads and the recoil pad. Even the scout shot it a couple of times and said it was softer than the Rem 870 he shot (twice--other than that, he used a Rem 870 20 ga. and mostly a Rem 1100 12 ga. all with good recoil pads).
Just thought I'd share my story for your enjoyment. I have been lurking on the board for about three months now with just a couple of posts about the trunk case. Great site. Thanks.
CB3