Earlier this year I acquired a mid-20's vintage 12-bore FW framed Ideal Grade in a trade. Forend wood had been replaced and the butt stock refinished; but otherwise she seemed honest and tight, pointed well, and was equipped with Hunter's optional auto ejectors and HOT trigger unit. All in all a very nice "shooter" grade Smith; but the gun also had 26" barrels, which originality is immediately suspect on a vintage 12-bore double based on my experience. And sure enough, a records check with Jim Stubbendieck showed the gun having originally shipped with 28" barrels; and oddly no HOT trigger unit? Well, what the heck, I was into the gun OK; and trigger and ejector mechanisms functioned flawlessly during two rounds of skeet to test the gun. Still I wanted a set of uncut barrels; so....during a conversation with one of our fine members (who shall remain anonymous), just happens this individual said he'd gotten in some Smith parts to include an Ideal Grade set of barrels and he'd recalled that I might be in need of same. So we discussed the issue at length; these barrels were 30" 12-bore extractor barrels for an FW frame; but given that they were extractor barrels, I'd need a forend also. Well it seems this individual also had the original matching forend; and before all was done, I had been GIFTED this set of barrels and the complete forend! A few days later a box of "plumbing parts" arrived at my front door; and after expecting to find these items well-used (I was told these items were from a "parts gun" after all!), imagine my surprise to find a set of barrels with 90% plus blue, mint bores, and forearm wood with nearly all original finish and sharp as new checkering! Well, that set of pipes was soon sitting atop my FWE frame to which they fit perfectly with no gaping or proud metal around breech balls or water table; and even the opening lever was exactly right of center where it should be.
BUT, the fore iron fit was not so good; the forend would snap in place, but the gun would not open far enough to allow shells to be inserted and or removed. As this fore iron would be absolutely essential for the gun to work with an extractor set of barrels; and not knowing what else to do, I called Buck Hamlin and told him to expect a package. Buck said "not so fast; before you send me anything, you need to do this. Take the fore iron and remove the cocking plate. You can't miss it; it's that little piece held in place by the tiny screw at the base of the iron. That plate really isn't necessary to cock the gun, and will sometimes restrict downward movement of the barrels in a barrel fitting project like you have. If that doesn't work, call me back." I said OK and got to work. Well seems that removing that plate helped only a tiny bit if at all; I still had the same issue and decided to set the gun aside lest I screw something up big-time. Well, yesterday afternoon Buck called (and Buck never calls!) and he says "Tom, I'm packing for my elk hunting trip to Colorado; and before I leave, I wanted to follow up on your progress with the Smith barrels". So I said "well Buck, I'm boxing that thing up tonight, so get ready"; and Buck says, "don't send that thing to me yet; you need to try one more trick." At that point he told me to remove the screw from the barrel lug holding the extractor rod; then put the barrels back on the frame. I did, and lo and behold was elated to find those barrels now dropped correctly and shells slide in and out as intended. So now all that is required to properly complete my barrel fitting project is to lengthen the rear portion of the flat surface on the bottom of the extractor rod approximately 1/8". This will allow the extractor to be raised sufficiently for the gun to completely open with the extractor rod retaining screw back in place. I will most likely properly complete said modification this weekend when I have time to do it "right"; but the experience taught me two things. First of all I'm capable of performing the simplest of repairs and gunsmiths are not wizards; they're just smarter. Secondly, and most interestingly to me, before discussing the "fix" with Buck it had never occurred to me that the extractor rod retaining screw in the barrel lug also served as a "joint check" to stop forward barrel rotation on a Smith gun. And in closing, I've used up your time here relating this experience in the event someone should ever find himself in a similar situation.