New L. C. Smith, Syracuse Model 10 gauge

[Dennis]

Recently while on a trip to upstate NY I happened across a L. C. Smith, Syracuse, NY 10 gauge made for the Baker Gun Company. As I have always liked 10 gauges and it seemed shootable so I bought it. My understanding from the LCSCA is the gun was one of few made and is the heaviest of 3 frame sizes. I have already made contact with J. David Williamson to advise him of my find. I assumed the barrels were 32 inches when I bought the gun but when I got home and measured them they turned out to be 31.5 inches. I was disappointed until I started photographing the gun and noticed a line at the end of the barrels similar to the line on a Parker side by side. It is definitely factory applied. David Williamson said he has not seen that length barrel before but it does appear to be the factory length. For now it is what it is. When I got back to my place in Colorado my brother and I shot the gun at Coke cans at 70 yards but only scored 3 hits in each. Charlie, I apologize for not using the official Dr. Pepper soda cans. The store only had little baby cans, I think 7 1/2 ounces. Patterns at 40 yards seemed pretty even using RST 1 1/4 ounces of 7 1/2 shot. Due to the price of shells I only shot 9 shots at clay targets but managed to hit 7 of them. There is pitting in both bores but considering the thickness of the barrel walls I was not too worried. I photographed the L.C. next to a Parker PH 12 gauge I had bought earlier and will tell of it later. The L. C. is huge next to the Parker. Hopefully my photos will post successfully.

I did have a problem opening the gun after firing and from the pictures you can see the firing pins were dragging on the primers. Whether the primers were flowing back into the primer hole or not I can't say and would appreciate any suggestions as to what is happening.

Dennis