Smith Carbine

[JackAubrey]

I have been cosidering the purchase of a Smith Carbine but would first like to hear from some owners.My main question is this:does the action on the Smith ever work loos or fail to mate up allowing gases to escape?Are they reasonably accurate?Would they be effective on deer?

 

[mec]

I just pulled one from Dixie for T&E. They are amazingly well fitted and finished with good polish under the blue and casehardening. I made four out of five head shots on a silhouette at 50 yards standing off- hand and the sit-down groups at the same range were just about touching. It seals up well with no gas leakage.

I don't know about long term service but in the last few months, Dixie has started cataloging spare parts including the springs and other essentials. DWG also has the appropriate bullets and some brass cartridges for the carbine. They are a bit oversize and must be sanded down to fit the chambers. An arbor- tuype press is needed to seat the bullets - but not entirely necessary. My loading of the cartridges was fairly tedious but I didn't spend a lot of time developing a technique. I did use an old c press and a large mouthed loading die to align and seat the bullets.

After a few rounds, lead collects on the abrupt rifling lead and makes closing the action difficult unless it is removed. On the whole, it is a worthwhile replica and like all black powder types, it does present it's own set of challenges.
Picture Series:[url] http://usera.imagecave.com/mec/smithseries.jpg[/url]

This will probably not work as the picture posting feature is usually not operative- use above link

 

They do tend to work loose after extended firing, I have an origional that is finally getting loose after 3 years of N-SSA skirmishing, proubibly in excess of 3000 rounds. This is easly fixed by a compentent gunsmith. Use the plastic tubes available for this gun, Lodgewood is a good source. These are GREAT guns, enjoy.

 

[bavarialand]

saw your post, was wondering what type of powder and what load are you using? also bullit weight? thanks, Dave

 

[mec]

check this:[url] http://www.dixiegunworks.com/...&osCsid=db91106085bdc626edfe91040649868b[/url]

 

[BobM]

Like Ken I also have been shooting an original for about 20years in NSSA compation. I have changed the hinge screw once a couple of years ago and that tightened the action back up tight. I use the plastic cases with 30gr 3f Goex .07cc of cream of wheat filler and a Rapine 515365 bullet lubed with SPG.
BobM

 

[marmot]

I've been using a repro Smith for 6 years now for N-SSA Skirmishing; perhaps ~1000+ rds per year; it is still quite tight. I've never had any problems with fouling or leading hampering closing with either plastic or brass cases (neither of which require a press to load; all of my Smith rounds are loading by hand, and I found that if I tried to compress the powder in the plastic cases with a press, they bulged, making loading difficult.) I have seen one, and only one, instance of either a short chamber or slightly overlength brass tubes causing the gun to bind. I use the lighter Rapine, and have experimented with roundballs, both work fine.

A really fun gun to shoot, and though I have read of folks deer hunting with it I have some reservations... 340 grain bullet, 40 gr. max load? Definitely a short range proposition for deer... works great on groundhogs though!

 

[mec]

The difficulty in closing I had might come from the Dixie bullets. Don't know. But after a few shots, the lead build up with this particular bullet would make the action hard to close.

 

[JackAubrey]

My thanks for the replies,Gentlemen.Since deer ang hog hunting were on my agenda do you feel I might be better sserved w/ a Sharps?Best regards,J.A.