I happened upon a field grade LC Smith yesterday locally. It's pretty rough as far as the wood goes, stock is busted up some. Seems to be pretty tight. Not much finish of course but the face is flush and lock up is good. Price is decent in accord with the condition. I am thinking of picking it up and attempting to restock it myself, possibly with an English style straight stock with a recoil pad. I have done a little stock work, mostly refinishing, adding a recoil pad and some minor refitting. How hard of a project is cutting one out of a blank for a double barrel. Also this gun is marked armor steel under the forearm splinter. I'm thinking it should be safe to shoot with mild loads? Oh yes it is a 12ga with 26" barrels not real sure of the chokes yet. Thanks for any help.

well you have picked out a challenge for yourself if you decide to undertake it. I have done a total of three and will never do another.

Inletting an Elsie is a stockwork project that is not for the faint of heart. As a sidelock there is much fine, critical inletting required for all the little pieces...

Next problem with your plan is the shape of the factory grip and trying to rework it to an English grip. There is just enough drop right in the grip that the bottom line will not flow properly. A small Prince of Wales grip knob looks better with the LC and is functionally similar. Either will probably require straightening the trigger guard. There is risk there...

It varies with age, but usually the model was stamped on the action flats on older guns... OO, O, 1, 2, etc...

It looked like it would be quite frustrating. The positive side is I can't really mess it up much worse than it is. Lol it's in pretty bad shape. But just the stock. The action appears pretty good. One Screw on the right hand side plate is boogered up pretty bad. That kinda scares me also as to what it looks like internally.

Ahh. Hadn't thought about that with the grip design. Thanks for that info. If I took this to a gunsmith what kinda ballpark price could I be looking at for this project. That is if a gunsmith doesn't run me off at first sight of said project.

I've done two for friends. Not impossible but very challenging. If you use the current stock as a pattern and have someone who will take their time doing the duplication it will make your life much easier. The angles will be right and the fit close.
Straight stock is adding an additional complication.
One thing would be to fully familiarize yourself with disassembling and assembling the action because you will be doing it while inletting the stock.
Be patient, plan each move, sharp tools.
I'll watch down the road for the finished product.

Duplication by machine for one stock would not be a good idea IMO&E... Set-up would need to be perfect and the chances of that are slim I see loose inletting...

I have an OO Elsie I am getting ready to restock soon... probably this winter. I had hoped to get Riley interested but he is too busy.

IIRC "Do It Yourself Gunsmithing" by Jim Carmichael has a section on stocking an Elsie. Mine is at home so I can't verify this, however with the book available for $5 and up it is worth adding to your library if you don't have it.
Thaine

I've an Elsie, sans wood and blueing, now for nearly 20 years. Gotta get around to it ..

I did one Smith butt stock, and made it a straight grip in the process, but I started with a pre-inlet blank. The biggest hassle was shaping/extending the lower tang, and mind you it has to be extended. Frankly, I have no desire to ever do another one.

LC Smith collectors association......you can usually find stocks in their classified section. Love my Elsie's!

Great suggestion!!! I had not realized they had a website!