Old L C Smith

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ligonierbill

New member
I have an 1894 Elsie 12 ga with what appear to be Damascus barrels. It's in pretty good shape and functional with the exception of one missing firing pin. Numrich has the firing pin, and I'm thinking of getting the old girl shooting again. I don't load shotshells, but blackpowder ammo is available. Any experience with shotguns of this era?
 
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Doyle

New member
Even with blackpowder shells, it is imperative that you get those barrels checked and cleared by a competent gunsmith. By competent, I'm meaning one that specifically deals with damascus barrels. Those barrels can degrade from the inside and still look fine on the outside. Better to spend a little money now than to risk loosing your eyes or worse.
 
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ligonierbill

New member
Oh, I'll get her checked for sure. It seems to be an ongoing debate on the net as to the safety of these things. I just wonder if someone on this forum is shooting one or knows of folks that are.
 
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eastbank

New member
i shoot bp 12ga shotgun shells,but not in wire wound barrels, i load them on a old mec 600 as i don,t need more than a few boxes a year and they are fun to hunt small game and just a effective as smokeless shells with in the chokes range. eastbank.
 
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mattL46

New member
I can't help with shooting one but I've been around a few. My dad had an old ithaca that was Damascus. One point of advice is to be sure of the chamber dimensions. Some of those old gals were shorter than 2-3/4. You may already know this. I'm not sure of the time frame of these shorter chambers but your Elsie is getting back there.
 
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ligonierbill

New member
To close this out, I decided not to fire this old girl. I used to be a metallurgist (when I made an honest living), and I realized that the only way to detect internal flaws would be radiography, or maybe pulsed eddy current. Not worth it. Think I'll clean her up, remove the one firing pin remaining, and hang her on the wall.
 
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