While certainly any single record might be in error, the records referred to are a compilation from all of the individual surviving records form the factory. Pretty unlikely that there's any significant disparity between the "REAL" number of 16 ga hammer gun and the number of examples extracted from the records.
I'll say this, they are out there, but they don't come up for sale often. When they do show up for sale, they are often "rode hard and put up wet". I picked up one on the cheap a few years back on one of the auction sites. The stock was covered entirely in what appeared to be a lace-on elephant scrotum, leaving no view of what lay beneath, and the 28" twist steel barrels looked pretty dodgy. When the gun arrived it was with great trepidation that I cut the laces and removed the elephant scrotum. The original stock beneath was without a single defect. I had the barrels refinished by one of our trusted sources, and the wood refinished by another. The gun is beautiful, and it turns out that she's only one of a handful of 28" twist steel 16 ga hammer guns ever produced by LC Smith. She's choked full and tight mod, and a real pleasure to shoot. I've been offered many times what I've got in her, but she's Alyssa's chosen hammer gun, and I suspect it might be a while before I get another shot at one.
I'd guess that Destry's comment that folks just hold on to them is probably the ticket, as it seems that a decent number of the guns were produced.
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