Christmas Present - L C Smith Long Range
 

Just want to show some pics of a nice L C Smith Field Grade Long Range, a 3-inch/32-incher I scored last month. I'd promised my wife the Smith would be my Christmas present and although I peeked I didn't open the box to play until all our family were here on Christmas morning. Santa was good to me this year.

As most will probably know the Long Range Smith was a contemporary of the Super-Fox. Some of the ice had melted of late and I had her out for ducks real early this morning but the few birds I'd spotted there yesterday evening were gone. Rats! :(

frank

EDIT: Forgot to include the 4th pic here when I posted yesterday. If you expand it you'll see some tiny raindrops as I was finishing up with the camera.

Very nice Santa Frank

Case looks great on that one.

Very nice

Of late I've read opinions that Hunter Arms may have over-hyped its Long Range gun, but this student of Super-Foxes sees some subtle boring features in the Smith that go beyond just using a bore mike, calculating the choke constrictions, and yawning to learn the LR Smith is "only" choked something like 40 points as compared with 48-50 points or so for a typical Super-Fox. Back in the day Captains Askins and Crossman wrote well of the Super-Fox as well as the Smith Long Range in comparative testing. There had to be something going for the Smith. Once spring comes I'll be doing some patterning and penetration testing at distances and with lead and the current non-tox shotshells.

Frank, feel free to jump on your sled, fire up the tiny reindeer's and head to New Hampshire next Christmas to put something under MY TREE:rolleyes:

a lc smith long range is more affordable than a super fox....i have the lc smith long range but have not owned a super fox yet....charlie

I just like the branding "Long Range". What duck hunter could resist!!!! The LR way outsold the SF due in my opinion to Hunters pricing. Nice gun Frank hope u kill a few ducks before the season ends. I own a LR and like it very much.

As all of us know, this "long range" hype among the Fox, Parker, and Smith people comes out fairly equally on the pattern board. The best long range 1 1/4 ounce #4 lead shot patterns I have shot came from a 30" Sterlingworth and will probably be equaled by other Sterlingworths, Parkers, Smiths, and Super Foxes in years to come. I still have those pattern sheets and still have the #4 lead shot loads to test. I could fire the Super Foxes at the same pattern sheets, but would be unlikely to improve on the 90% patterns thrown by my old Sterlingworth. Of course, I could give it a try. I wonder how the Nash Buckingham 1 3/8 ounce copper #4 Super X loads would print on paper? I have a few of the old lead #4 loads squirrelled away. Maybe someone could give up a few of the copper 1 3/8 ounce loads to compare.

I sure could use more time to judge my lead! I think my letter to Santa must be in the dead letter box...

I had a nice Ideal grade Long Range years ago. It seemed like an original un-altered gun. The odd thing was that the Right barrel had an improved choke. It was nicely polished with no signs of being reamed. The seller told me some Long Range guns were ordered that way, the first shot being for over decoys the second for passing or going away birds.
Any thoughts ? , Dave