Posted by SGT on March 19, 2007, 10:07 am, in reply to "Re: Eagle Grade"
Although the color and patina of wood appearance in both stock and forearm are consistent, I too cannot tell from the photos if the forearm wood is original (although the style of that beavertail is consistent with Hunter Arms work); but the 3" chamber stamp is most definately a factory stamp. This Eagle grade was obviously ordered as a Trap gun; and many early trap shooters did exactly what competition shooters do today, order long chambers in the belief that doing so will lower pressures for more consistent patterns. Smith guns with factory 3" chambers and no "wildfowl" or "long range" markings are not the least bit uncommon, especially when the original owner had competition shooting in mind, or when a gun was specifically ordered in a trap configuration as we see here. Finally, I encourage any new owner to obtain a factory letter; but it is doubtful that any information not pertenent to shipping data will be found therein, as the original production/order data information has long since disappeared.