Posted by SGT on August 1, 2007, 4:06 pm, in reply to "Cody letter"
Dan, I can't speak to all the confusion, although I can tell you that the old ledgers are hand-written, mostly in faded pencil; and are very difficult (sometimes virtually impossible) to accurately read all entries. People also made mistakes; although fortunately, most entries are correct. This is what I would suggest, a gun from this period will most often have the original grade stamp concealed on the frame beneath the left side lockplate. Remove the left side lockplate and examine the narrow portion of the exposed frame beneath the barrels. If this frame was originally grade stamped, the correct grade mark will be located thereon ("T" for Trap, "I" for Ideal, etc). As to the second set of barrels, guns that were originally ordered and shipped with multiple barrel sets will have the length of each set noted within the barrel column on the shipping ledger page (see the photo of such a ledger entry in a recent DGJ article on a PE Grade Smith); only one entry indicates the gun shipped with just a single set of barrels. My own study reveals that most Smith guns with two sets of barrels had the second set fitted at a latter date; and additionally, the second barrel set will many times be of a lower grade/quality barrel steel, but check for that grade mark and post again. Tom