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Lot 51: RARE AND ICONIC L.C. SMITH A-3 GRADE 12 GAUGE SHOTGUN ILLUSTRATED PROFUSELY IN LT. COL WM BROPHY’S “L.C. SMITH SHOTGUNS” BOOK: SN. 205157. The A3 Grade was introduced to the line in 1895 as “The finest gun in the world for the money”. It was the highest grade L.C. Smith until the grade designations were changed in 1913. Made in 1906 with 30” Whitworth Fluid steel bbls, 2-3/4” chambers, matted concave rib and bbl extension with red mid and ivory front bead. Muzzles are nicely crowned and have bands of engraving as well as 1” scroll wedges. Breech ends of bbls have 2-1/2” wedges of scroll on tops and gold inlaid lightning bolts running through each and are hand engraved “Sir Joseph Whitworth Fluid Compressed Steel” / “Made to Order By the Hunter Arms Co. Fulton, NY”. Later factory replacement type-2 beavertail forend is finely checkered with fleur-de-lis ribbon at center and fully engraved banjo type roll release and sculptured iron. Inside of forend iron is hand engraved with scrollwork, SN and 1901 Lewis Ejector patent info. Bbl flats are nicely engine turned with hand engraved SN, bottom of tubes w/original Whitworth trademark stamps and forend lug stamped “A 3”. Masterfully engraved case hardened sidelock action is most certainly the work of Albert E. Kraus, employed from 1890-1945.

Lockplates are extensively engraved in intricate foliate scrollwork and hidden game scenes with a relief engraved Setter in an oval panel on left plate, relief Pointer in panel on right, and “L.C.Smith ” in a crescent forward of the lock pin on each side. Receiver body has similar foliate scroll engraving interspersed w/ bouquet flourishes and bas-relief vine and scrollwork at the fences. The classic Setter with fallen quail on trigger plate, synonymous with the L.C.Smith brand, is beautifully executed. Blued trigger guard is rose and scroll engraved with hand-cut SN at tang. Auto ejectors, “Hunter One -Trigger”, non-auto safety. Gold inlaid “S” in front of flat safety slide.

Beautiful straight-hand buttstock of richly figured dark-streaked European walnut is finely checkered with fleur-de-lis and ribbon patterns terminating with an aging “No-Shoc” pad. Buttstock and forend are most certainly a period of use factory replacements (post-1920) and have been on the gun for much of its lifetime.

WEIGHT: 7lbs. 14oz. Min. Wall Thickness: .029(Rt) .030(L) Bore Diameter: .727(Rt) .729(L). Bore Restriction: .036(Rt) .035(L). DAC: 1-1/2”. DAH: 2-1/4”. LOP: 14-1/8”.

This exact gun is illustrated in ‘L.C.Smith Shotguns, LTC Wm S. Brophy, 1983 on the cover and pp 21, 47-49, 164-169, 187-188. Accompanied by a L.C.Smith Collectors Association research letter dated January 28, 2022, identifying this gun as being finished January 22, 1906 as one of only 17 twelve gauge guns total. No stock configuration nor shipping info is recorded but there is a notation “McR” at the margin of the ledger for this entry and likely indicates the owner at one time. Also accompanied by archival A & F records, kindly supplied by Griffin & Howe Research, indicating the gun, in its current configuration, was consigned to them by E.A.Thorne in 1960 and sold to H. Gordon Moore in 1961. Harry Gordon Moore, Jr. resided much of his adult life in Lynchburg VA. Mr. Moore was also the author of “Trigger Pullers: An Attempt to Convey the Art of Wingshooting,1976” a compendium of Moore’s articles on gamebird shooting, first published in Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and The Shooter’s Bible. Note: Moore and Brophy were certainly literary colleagues in the Sporting Fraternity and a friendly loan of the A3 for Brophy’s book is probable. Charlie Hunter spent his lifetime in and around the Staunton – Lynchburg area and was undoubtedly well-acquainted with fellow sportsman Moore. Hunter likely acquired this gun from Moore directly or from his estate after his passing in 1992.