shooting clay targets with LCS Damascus barrels Archived Message
Posted by Jent P Mitchell III on October 29, 2015, 9:35 pm, in reply to "Loads for twist or Damascus barrels"
Hello Mike Yonker, I have two 12 gauge L C Smith SXS shotguns with damascus barrels that I shoot. I also have a 10 gauge L C Smith hammerless damascus SXS that I shoot. One of my 12 gauge L C Smiths is a hammergun, outside hammers, and the barrels on that gun are in good enough condition and thick enough that I just shoot off the self RST or Winchester or Federal or Remington 2 and 3/4 inch 12 gauge clay target loads out of it all day long with no problems. This does not mean that ALL of the old L C Smith SXSs will do this safely ! Each L C Smith needs to be checked over and inspected for safety. I use to own another 12 gauge LCS hammergun with damascus barrels and I have shot it and several of my friends have shot it, with off the shelf WIN/FED/REM standard clay target loads. Mike Harris has shot this 12 gauge hammergun once in the LCS/PARKER hammergun challenge at Deep River in Sanford, NC. Mike Harris shot this LCS very very well but Mike thought it was to heavy for extended use and to heavy to carry around the sporting clays field. Milt F. has shot this old damascus barreled LCS many many times too. Milt shoots this gun well too. I have opened the chokes on my 12 gauge LCS hammergun and had other work to this LCS hammergun to make it a clays gun. I do not hesitate to shoot good guns with good damascus barrels with modern 12 gauge clay target loads from Winchester or Federal or Remington or RST. I do recommend the spare tire test if in doubt about the safety of any shotgun barrel. If the shotgun passes the spare tire test then I am good to go and comfortable. I would estimate that 90% of all of the blown up shotgun barrels that we see were blown up due to an obstruction in the barrel and it does not matter what kind of steel the barrel was made from.
I do HANDLOAD for my old 10 gauge L C Smith SXS or I use the GAUGEMATES to shoot 12 gauge shells out of my 10 gauge L C Smith. A good quality 12 gauge clay target shell fired out of a 10 gauge LCS by way of a GAUGEMATE works very well. I have even shot heavy 12 gauge pigeon loads out of my 10 gauge SXSs using GAUGEMATES and they worked great !
Mike Yonker, Do you live anywhere near Virginia ??? Good Shooting To You, Jent
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