L.C. Smith Won't Open Enough
I am decidedly NOT a double gunsmith! I'll happily rebarrel or rechamber your hunting rifle, but I know my limitations when it comes to double guns. Having forgotten that bit of trivia, however, I spent several hours looking through reference books and combing the internet when an L.C. Smith came in that would not open sufficiently wide to load. The first photo below shows how the gun looked when it was opened. Finally I got my wits about me enough to call Bill Schwarz down in Georgia. He asked me a few questions, and I answered them best I could from what my customer told me.
Yes, the gun had recently been blued (badly, and likely in a caustic bath!).
Yes, the gun had a new forend, a beavertail that looked about as bad as a beavertail can look.
Bill then asked me to look at the end of the forend iron as you see it in the second photo. That shiny bit of steel has a knife edge on one end and is actually a wedge. The knife edge has to face the front of the gun. It was put in bassackwards. When I reversed it, the gun opened just fine as shown in the last photo.
Experience -- there is absolutely no substitute.
Bill Jacobs
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