Re: A2 forend
Posted by Tom Archer on March 9, 2021, 6:16 pm, in reply to "
Re: A2 forend"
Although it's difficult for us collectors to conceive, many high grade Smith guns, and other makes have been destroyed and/or parted out. Years ago I found the A-2 lock plates below in an SC gun shop; the serial number is 1692. It's in the Brophy recap; and the odd thing is that it is one of two A-2 guns with the same serial number, so we know that one of those guns did not survive. The shop owner said the gun had belonged to an SC politician and had been accidentally run over and destroyed; he'd no idea as to the remainder of the gun. Believe it or not, an A-3 was recently sold on GB for parts, or as a project. Seems the frame to this gun had been destroyed by a police department; perhaps by law deeming the gun as stolen, confiscated, or maybe thru a gun buy back program? But is was REAL sad to see a gun of that quality destroyed. I once owned a highly engraved opening lever serial numbered to an A-2, as well as an ejector fore end escutcheon to another A-2; and a Type I ejector iron from another very high grade Smith. You'll recall that Brophy recorded the Marlin made Crown Grade serial numbers; and if you study that list you'll see ONE serial number of a Crown Grade recorded as being shipped without auto-ejectors, gun #14781. I once owned the manual extractor fore iron to this gun; so what happened to the gun itself? No idea, but I've always hoped it went back to Marlin for the addition of auto ejectors. And if we study the early Type I ejector guns, we find that many were returned later to be fitted with the Type II ejector mechanism; and I once owned an A-1 that received that upgrade. We may never know why a Type I ejector A-2 iron is on a Grade 4, but it could be as simple as this. The owner of the Grade 4 Type I ejector gun needed a replacement fore end and found on salvaged from an A-2 that had been upgraded to the Type II ejector system.
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