Posted by David Williamson on November 19, 2014, 7:55 pm, in reply to "1917 hammer SxS"
Lincoln, the "F" is a grade designation. The higher grades had to be special ordered. Royal Steel was by now the most common and I believe by 1918 if you wanted Damascus barrels they had to be again, special ordered.
Also by 1918 hammer guns had an "H" prefix. It was not a different grade but a way for Hunter Arms to know that for their records this was a hammer gun, as now both hammer and hammerless serial numbers were mixed.
L.C. Smith did not mark on any guns the gauge or chokes, unless specified when ordered were shipped full and full. Hammer guns were sold by hardware stores and sometimes they would order guns choked different for customers.