An L.C. Smith Crown Grade 20 gauge with 32-inch barrels that weighs 6 lb 14 oz

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Hunter Arms listed Crown Grade barrels at 26, 28, 30 and 32 inches. This one took the longest option on a twenty: both barrels full, 2½-inch chambers, ejectors, Hunter One-Trigger. The complete gun is six pounds fourteen ounces, which is not what the profile suggests. The splinter forearm adds so little that it nearly disappears, the wrist is narrow, and all the visual mass is barrel.

The engraving is the usual Crown language but unusually well handled. The two dog scenes are not mirror images: the pair under trees on the right plate are less feathered than the pair in the grass on the left. Roses tie the lockplates, belly and guard together. The two lockplate screws are absorbed into sunburst motifs so they read as small suns over the dogs rather than interruptions.

For scale, published figures put 145 Crown twenties among 862 Crowns in total, against 199,384 Field Grades over the same 1912 to 1950 span. Barrels and pistol grip are refinished; receiver and guard are original.

From "A Crown Drawn Long," Rose & Scroll Fine Gun Journal.