Re: LCS 16Ga & LCS 20 ga kits complete from 40's Archived Message
Posted by Bill Winter on August 25, 2008, 5:44 pm, in reply to "Re: LCS 16Ga & LCS 20 ga kits complete from 40's"
I am intregued by the concept of the kit guns. Its no secret,that they turned up from the time when the factory floor had collapsed and the doors were being bolted for the final time. I am willing to bet that there was a good deal of head scraching and asprins going around with the folks at both Marlin and Hunter as to what in the heck they were going to do now. I am sure that the sale of the parts kits were to assist in generating needed revenue and perhaps dispose of unwanted invantory to lighten the load for the impending move to the Marlin factory. I have a good deal of questions concerning what you got with a kit.Do you think the parts were numbered like a L.C. Smith gun, or, were they left blank? Is the heat treating correct? what about the case color? How much of the fit and polish was already completed? The way I am thinking is when these kits were sold off there was enough parts to make a gun or, perhaps even several guns and the sale was for people with the ability and skills nessesary to complete a project of this magnatude. I have never seen a add offering the kits in my readings. Were they offered for sale in trade publications for and about gunsmiths? when I hear people speak about shotguns that may not be up to exspected quality of a late production gun it is quite possable we are seeing the fruits from that period of the kit gun. Like it or not its all Part of the Smith story and that alone makes it interesting to me.
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