Posted by John Kiefer on January 13, 2007, 11:39 am, in reply to "Re: Shotshells to use"
SGTs advice is good. However you gotta wonder about a Smith that was made in 1949, well after U.S. ammo makers raised the service pressure to modern levels back in the 1920's. Why shouldn't you expect a 1949 gun to digest a moderate amount of modern high brass loads without worrying about its stock or having to make homebrew loads with 1900's era service pressures? IMO, the Hunter Bros and Marlin should have corrected the deficiency in the bearing [or lack thereof] of the head of the stock. Smiths are wonderful guns to look at and handle but if you're serious about hunting a lot with a vintage sidexside you'd be better off with an Ithaca, Fox, Parker.