The L.C. Smith Collectors Association

The L.C. Smith Collectors Association
[ The L.C. Smith Collectors Association ]

Low Point in LC Smith quality?

Posted by Travis Smith on January 13, 2019, 7:50 pm

First of all I love LC smiths so this is not an LC bashing just a question on something I have observed.

Was there a period that LC Smith Guns were considered to be at their lowest in terms of fit and finish?

I have a 1924 Field grade featherweight 12GA Ser# 64757 that is in excellent original condition but there are some little things that I see that I have noticed on guns manufactured before or after.

There are several areas where the edges of what should have been finished smooth were ever so ragged. The checkering is as good as I could do and I have never checkered. It does locks up vault tight and does not feel less than awesome when in hand. I love the gun and accept it for what it is but it just seems to me to have left the factory a little sloppy.

Thanks

Travis

Re: Low Point in LC Smith quality?

Posted by Mark Britton on January 20, 2019, 2:41 pm, in reply to "Low Point in LC Smith quality?"

Travis no one has responded to your question. So I decided to take a shot.Some will say and also collect Smith guns made before 1913 they say they are the best quality. Why ? I don't remember.Some have said that guns made by Marlin with leftover parts after Hunter Arms went bankrupt ( April 1945 ) aren't as good. These are the guns I like for the single sighting plane (SSP) aka high rib,but I'm a shooter not a collector.But maybe the real answer to your question is Field grade(or old replaced stock). LC Smith guns by parts and design are all LC Smith guns, a Field grade being the lowest grade didn't get the attention to fit and finish that higher grade guns got for you know why.My 4 Field grade guns (that's all I have) look fine to me.Does this answer your question ? I doubt it. Do I know what I'm talking about NOT a chance. Hopefully some one (That's Anyone)who knows more than me will chime in. My 2 cents and poor attempt to help out.

Re: Low Point in LC Smith quality?

Posted by Travis Smith on January 20, 2019, 8:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Low Point in LC Smith quality?"

Your poor attempt at helping out is 10x better than the rich non-attempts

I am also not a collector but more of a hunter. I just noticed that my recently acquired 1924 Field grade gun just seemed a bit rougher that some others I have seen although the condition is 90% original.

May have been the drunk they just hired. I am still very happy with it.

Thanks for the input and happy hunting.

Hunter Arms in the 1920s

Posted by Drew Hause on January 21, 2019, 7:56 am, in reply to "Low Point in LC Smith quality?"

Things were "roaring" at Hunter Arms in the 1920s. In 1917 the Hunter Brothers declared bankruptcy primarily related to the failure of their Battle Island Paper & Pulp Co., rather than the gun and electric fan business. A group of Fulton businessmen, anxious to protect the jobs of the more than 400 employees, purchased Hunter Arms Co. that year, and then sold the company in 1920 to the Clifford K. Simmonds family, owners of Simonds Saw and Steel Co. Stephen J. Gilles was named General Manager of the operation. The fact that G.W. Lorimer and W.E. Gordon took 1st and 2nd at the 1919 Grand American Handicap might have helped close the deal.

Under the Gilles' leadership, there was a burst of design and engineering creativity at Hunter Arms; the following new guns or features were introduced in the 1920s:
1920: Double Barrel Trap Gun
1922: Large Schnabel Beavertail Forend with recoil lug
1924: Long Range Wild Fowl Gun with a larger frame, 3” chambers, and barrel reinforcing wedge (loop support)
1925: L.C. Smith Ventilated Rib designed by Gilles
1926: Ventilated Rib Double Barrel Gun “For Field and Trap Shooting”
1928: Skeet Upland Special – Pistol grip, Double Triggers, and Splinter FE
1929: Skeet Special – Straight, full, or half grip, Hunter One-Trigger, Automatic Ejector, and new “Streamline Beaver Tail Forend”

With all that excitement, it is certainly possible that a less-then-up-to-standards gun slipped out of the factory on a bad day.

It is my opinion that some cost savings production measures started in the depth of the depression.