Posted by SGT on March 19, 2007, 12:59 pm, in reply to "Re: Boomers???"
Silvers: Although you are certainly entittled to your opinions, I don't know that I understand why you seem to have recently become so negative on Smith guns. Like everyone else, I acknowlege the stock head problem with Smith guns and have also seen a few high-grade and/or little used examples with lock-plate cracks; but not very many, and most I have noted were attributable to shrinkage of 80-100 year old wood around the lockplates, and all were certainly repairable. But this is an issue that has been discussed so many times on this forum that I have grown weary of making posts on the subject; but I will give a brief opinion one more time. If a shooter has a Smith gun he wishes to shoot regularly, I strongly encourage that shooter to send his gun to a competent double gunsmith and have the following work done: throughly degrease stocks and inspect for any damage (cracks, crushing, wood damage of any sort), repair and reinforce damaged wood surfaces, glass bed and coat all inletted areas with a modern epoxy compound designed for such repair and reinforce critical areas with a modern fiberglass guaze fabric. Degreasing will remove all original finish; so a new finish must then be reapplied, and often (for appearance purposes) one will wish to recut checkering. Therefore, one can easily see such repair, done right, requires a lot of work and some expense (depending on one's capability); but done properly, the reinforced stock is impervious to humidity and oil; and, provided the tang and sideplate screws are kept properly tightened (not over tight), the shooter should have no further stock problems. I've had such work done on several Smith guns I've owned and never had any further problems even with heavy loads (which were only used on occassion, as I don't like the added recoil and have learned that heavy loads are seldom required for the majority of my shooting requirements) and the odd Hunter One-trigger malfunction ("doubling"). All readers can take these comments exactly as intended, my opinions based on my own personal experience. Each shooter must be free to make his own decisions, but listening to some of the good advice herein will save untold frustration and not a few dollars. By the way Silvers, are you attending the Southern again this year? I certainly hope you will. Tom