lc smith

[Old and Reliable]

About our beloved Parkers we may boast. But other doubles get short shrift- even those "splintered" LC Smiths?""

Pete- I don't know how you did it, but that great new character on the AllState ads. is a Super Avatar on our Forum. So if John Dunkle decides to expand the "Gun of the Month" foto section to include the Avatars chosen, your's gets my vote hands down.

I shoulda seen the yawn- IMO the pre-1913 Smith guns, all other things being equal, seem to have less stock spliting near the locks and tang areas- older paper lower pressure shells, denser walnut (remember how both WW 1 & 2 took out a great about of walnut for rifle stocks and early airplane props in WW1)-- better fitting and the first sculpted lock design was the best, again IMO. Storage in sections perhaps in LOM or trunk cases for the higher grades, perhaps the O grade 10 and 12 bores hung over the fireplace mantel in the farmhouse, possibly the only shotgun they owned.

Over oiling and lubing and standing the guns butt down in a cabinet or "steel tomb"- once oil migrates into the head of the stock, the bonding fibers of the walnut soften.

Using longer shells than the gun was chambered for and Express or short Magnum loads- not for the sidelock guns, whether Smith or Purdey. My 2E 12 with 32" VR barrels does have 3" chambers and reinforcing "Y" on the under rib, not marked Longrange however- But I only shoot 2 & 3/4" shells in it-

One nice advantage of the Smith design is the detachable sidelocks for cleaning, firing pin replacement if needed, etc. Both Smith, AH Fox and Ithaca (I believe) use some form of a rotary tapered locking bolt spring driven into the mating recess in the barrel rib extension at breech. Parker used the doll's head- all fine concepts when developed in the 1880 era (aprox.) but when Browning brought about their Super Duper Posed O/U and Winchester their Model 21- aprox 1930 era- greater advances in metallurgy and machining techniques were extant (some due to WW1 arms production perhaps)--

But when all is said and done, this is our Parker site, and while it is always fun and even fascinating to discuss other double guns herein, and under the code of gentlemanly conduct not always present on other BBS websites, we all to a man here must indeed treasure our Parkers or else how do you explain the steady growth with new members eager to learn about their first Parker, whether it is a 16 bore Trojan or a 20 bore BHE.