Anyone have a LC smith long range?

[Jäger]

Originally Posted by Rick Losey

one of the Smith Wildfowl model - with the ordinance marking also just sold on GB $550 (had some issues) but it was not marked as a 3"

It certainly is a buyers market right now.

[B. Dudley]

I am not sure if the "Wild Fowl" marked guns all had 3" chambers.

[Researcher]

At the time the Super-Fox was introduced, 1922-23, Western Cartridge Co. had just introduced the 12-gauge Super-X 1 1/4 ounce load in their 2 3/4 inch FIELD shell --



and 20-gauge 1 ounce Super-X loads in their 2 3/4 inch FIELD shell --



and right after that the 2 9/16 inch 1 1/8 ounce 16-gauge Super-X load also in the FIELD shell.

Pretty quickly thereafter Hunter Arms Co. jumped on the bandwagon with their L.C. Smith "Long Range."

Western Cartridge Co. finally got the 12-gauge 3-inch Super-X load of 1 3/8 ounce of shot on the market by late 1924 or early 1925 and A.H. Fox Gun Co. began inserting this little slip in their Super-Fox brochures --



Western put up their 12-gauge 3-inch Super-X in their high brass RECORD shell --



The 12-gauge 3-inch Magnum with 1 5/8 ounce of shot was introduced in 1935, when Winchester introduced their Model 12 Heavy Duck.

Parker Bros. responded to the Super-Fox and the Long Range with this --

Parker Long Range -- In the 1929 "Flying Geese" catalogue the Brothers P had this to say -- "Magnum, Super, and variously named guns about which so much is now being written are not a new development in the gun makers' art.

For the past twenty years Parker Brothers have made guns to handle heavy charges of powder and shot, giving good patterns at long range. Recent improvements in powder and by shell manufacturers have served to make the Parker Long Range gun even more effective, so that today the Parker built and bored to secure the full power of modern loads with which one may confidently expect to bring down game at distances a few years ago considered impossible, is up to date but not new.

Parker Long Range guns are built to guard the user against abnormal recoil. The weight of the barrels is so distributed that the gun handles the heaviest loads with comfort. The purchaser of a Parker Long Range can rest assured that he will receive a gun, easy to handle, sufficiently heavy and properly bored to shoot the heaviest loads for the killing of wild fowl at extreme ranges."

The 1937 Remington era catalogue adds -- "Ordinarily Parker 12 gauge guns are chambered for shells up to and including 2 3/4 inches. These guns can be furnished with special long range choke boring to give more effective results at extreme ranges. 12 gauge double barrel guns, with the exception of the "Trojan" are also available with 3 inch chambers for use with maximum long range heavy loaded shells. So chambered, Parker guns are guaranteed to handle these shells properly."

"Parker 10 gauge guns are regularly chambered for 2 7/8 inch loads, but are also available with 3 1/2 inch chambers for use with maximum loads. No extra charge for a Parker Long Range Gun. Guns should never be used with shells longer than those for which they are chambered. See table of complete specifications on page 34."

[Craig Larter]

Dave: What weight gun in 12ga did Parker consider appropriate for a 1 1/4 oz load? #3 Frame 12ga?.

[Researcher]

Pigeon loads were 1 1/4 ounce and Pigeon Guns had to be under eight pounds for many years, so 7 pounds 15 ounces were certainly adequate.

The Baker Gun Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 3, May 1900 -- One little article on the weights of Trap/Pigeon guns used by the likes of Capt. A.W. Money (8 pounds), C.W. Budd (7 pounds 14 ounces), H.D. Bates (7 pounds 13 ounces), R.O. Heikes (7 pounds 15 ounces), J.S. Fanning (7 pounds 15 ounces), W.R. Crosby (7 pounds 12 ounces), and Col. A.G. Courtney (7 pounds 14 ounces). There was no indication or claim that any of these shooters used a Baker Gun, and I know Capt. Money is normally listed shooting a Parker Bros. and Col. Courtney normally shot a Remington. Several of the others I know pimped for whoever was picking up the tab. At one point in time W.R. Crosby did some fine shooting with a Baker.

After the progressive burning powder, high velocity, loads came out, I'm not sure what weight they thought adequate.

[charlie cleveland]

would love to have one of these marked wild fowl with 3 inch chambers....charlie

[charlie cleveland]

even ithaca had a gun called a heavy field gun with 2 7/8 inch chambers. i bought one from russ jackson and used it on turkey with 3 inch shells with a load of 1 5/8...the shells being showed and the info given was really good....i hope you find a long range smith....watch gunbroker for one they come up fairly often you can buy a good shooter for under a 1000....charlie

[Researcher]

even ithaca had a gun called a heavy field gun with 2 7/8 inch chambers. i bought one from russ jackson and used it on turkey with 3 inch shells with a load of 1 5/8

I've never seen such terminology used in an Ithaca Gun Co. catalogue or magazine ad. Ithaca Gun Co. introduced their Magnum-Ten in the second printing of their 1932 catalogue --





The Magnum-Ten was built on a beefed up, lengthened, version of their NID with the barrel lug extending into a recess on the bottom. The first Magnum-Ten going to Chas. Askins --



and made famous by Elmer Keith. Beginning in their 1937 catalogues Ithaca began offering a 12-gauge 3-inch Magnum built on the same big NID frame as the Magnum-Ten. The ones I've handled were plenty hefty!! They only produced 87 of them.

[Mills]

Wish I had seen that wildfowl Rochester ordnance Smith. What were the issues?

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Mills Morrison

Wish I had seen that wildfowl Rochester ordnance Smith. What were the issues?

just a little rough over-all - but the size of the holes in the rib concerned me
but at that price - still might have take a shot at it if it was also marked 3"

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=494801365