Posted by Silvers on March 19, 2007, 8:12 pm, in reply to "Re: Boomers???"
Tom, thanks for your reply. You certainly know your Smith guns, and your advice to glass bed the stress areas is excellent for the majority of those that are not collector grade pieces. I've been a long time admirer of Smith guns primarily for their racy looks, the craftsmanship that went into them, and their handling characteristics. All told I've owned about 7 of them, mostly Ideal grades, with one Field gun, one LRWF, and one Specialty in the mix. All but one of them were Hunter Bros. guns. That one was a 1949 Ideal grade 20 gauge.
As you know I'm a hunter and clays shooter, not really a collector. I use everything I have. I've recently gone from using double guns for fun, to using them more and more for serious tournament course shooting. I don't handload - so I buy regular factory ammo like STS's and AA's. With all this said, I've found there are better guns FOR ME in the tough regimen I put them through.
My Specialty is restocked with California English and so far with bout 4k rounds it hasn't developed any stock problems. However, the mint condition LRWF gun I owned developed a stock split after only 2 rounds of trap with 2-3/4 dram, 1 ounce, 1185 fps STS's. I took a beating on that one when I decided to sell it. Right now I have a friend upset with me because I sold him a nice Ideal grade 12, he shot about 1500 targets with it, and it now has two splits behind the lock plates. Granted, he used regular promotional ammo instead of moderate handloads, nevertheless he somehow blames me.
I'll be the first to say that a hunter-type using moderate handloads will get long service out of his Smith. However someone who wants to shoot a lot of regular factory ammo through a classic American double, year after year, will probably be better served with a Fox or Parker boxlock.
I don't think I'll be at the Southern this year. I did enjoy meeting and talking with you last year. Best of luck to the Smith team in the Challenge event! Silvers