Re: L.C. Smith Heavy 10 Ga Hammerless Quality 4 Archived Message
Posted by David Williamson on January 25, 2014, 3:17 pm, in reply to "L.C. Smith Heavy 10 Ga Hammerless Quality 4"
Dean, nice addition to your collection. You don't see many Quality 4's. As for being heavy, in a 1888 catalog, it is noted that these guns were offered in three weights, Extra Heavy, Heavy, and Medium. The Extra Heavy with 30" barrels could weigh up to 9 3/4 lbs, and with 32" barrels could weigh over 11 lbs. There is no mention of 28" barrels, but that doesn't mean the couldn't be ordered. The price of a Quality 4 then was $150.00, a good sum of money then. There are no records to show how many were made, but I believe the Syracuse line of hammerless guns were no more than 1,000 and if that. When you get your, could you measure across the breech balls and let me know what that dimension is. I have one 10 ga. that could probably be bored to 8 gauge as there is that much wall thickness in the chamber area.
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