doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Anybody want to buy a Lefever g Grade for 7K?

In the interests of exactitude, Washington pattern Damascus is not commonly found on H grade Lefevers. I've never seen any. Virtually all have either Twist or fluid steel tubes.

Nudge;
Those two screws in the bottom of the frame truly have nothing to do with the type of cocking hook the gun has. The lower arm of the mainspring, which also actuated the hammers, came to rest on the upper ends of those screws. The Lefever was advertized as having rebounding hammers, though they were not true rebounders as we normally think of the term. The expansion of the mainspring was stopped just as the hammers reached the firing pins & had enough inertia to fire the shell. The pins were thus not held into the dents in the primers by spring tension, thus avoiding the "Locking" of the gun be the firing pins. These screws could be adjusted to set the exact point at which the spring was stopped. On later guns these screws were eliminated & the guns built with a preset stopping point.
I do not know the exact point in time this took place. My rod cocker & two hook guns have then, my large hook guns don't. I do not have a small hook gun. The screws would be just as useful with one type of cocking as the other, have nothing to do with the cocking.

HE grade with washington pattern damascus:



Its the only one I've ever seen...Geo

I don't see seven grand there, but the package does include a Jeff's Outfitters case, a cool pocket knife and the extra set of burglar barrels. Certainly no flies on the restoration, great work.

The single barrel is the craziest thing I've ever seen. Redone Ithaca/Lefever trap& field single shot. I'm likely to bid just to have a decoy gun for the burglars to steal; it should appeal to the burglar class...Geo

Found a Lefever "American Flag"; GE



SAC "Washington" also refinished by Brad

Drew Hause,

No question, Bachelder does nice work. He's just oddly asking more than DOUBLE...probably closer to TRIPLE what he reasonably should be.

But who knows...new collectors are particularly succeptible to paying crazy prices just to "get on the board."

2-Piper,

I have 2 of the fishhook cockers, and they have the 2 bottom screws. The question is, what are those screws screwed into in the single hook cocking configuration? Maybe just screwed in to fill up the holes?

- Nudge

Nudge;
As I said those two screws have absolutely nothing to do with the cocking. They enter into the cutout in the bar of the frame where the mainsprings fit & butt up against the lower limb of the spring. The cocking hook works on the axle for the hammers & is totally independant of these screws.
Another use for these screws is given in a ca 1892 catalog, page 17 under General Instructions.
"To take the hammers out--Turn in the rebounding screws in bottom of frame until the hammers are relieved from the pressure of the main springs; then drive out the pin on which the hammers are pivoted and they will drop or lift out readily." These screws "Could" have been used all the way to the end of production. They were dropped at some point, likely as a cost cutting act, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the mode of cockling.
On my guns which have the screws I keep them set where with the hammers down the firing pins set approximately flush with the breech face, have never had a problem with them firing & they give absolutely no pin drag in opening the gun.
On my large hook guns without these screws they seem to be factory set to about this same position. With the side plates off & hammers down there is a bit of free motion to the hammer. It can be pushed forward by hand to cause the firing pins to protrude but is not under spring tension at this position.
Personally I would say they are free motion at the end of their travel, not true rebounders as they do not re-compress the spring to produce the rebound. Lefever catalogs though describe them as being rebounding.
In a ca 1913 catalog no mention is made of these screws as they had been eliminated by then. however it is stated
"Lefever Locks are rebounding,avoiding danger from firing pins pressing on the primers with full force of mainspring when gun is not cocked."
I have never had to compress the mainspring to either remove or replace the hammers on a Lefever.

I dont know about you guys... but i would expect any gun of that price point to have all its screws properly timed. ??

Who knows, maybe if they were, the price would be higher.