Researcher,
You are correct. However, I have a catalog from Defiance that was obviously printed in Syracuse with Syracuse on the cover but overstamped with "Removed to Defiance, Ohio" over the Syracuse.
They were in deep financial trouble and could not afford a totally new catalog. That wopuld explain the differences between catlog cuts and known guns produced at the various locations.
We have not seen another gun with more than one Company name marked on that given gun.
Could barrels have been made after the frame was milled at the end of the run of the company? Possibly.
Would an out of sequence Syracuse marked Optimus frame have been mated with barrels marked with the Ohio company name? Over Uncle Dan's dead body. Since he died less than 1 year after the termination of the Defiance operation, I suppose that is a remote possibility. That would be the only explanation that I could place on a gun with several "mistakes" of Optimus quality leaving the Lefever factory while Dan was still alive.
Shortly after you visited us at the Lefever tables in Las Vegas last month we were visited by a well known stock maker who admitted that he restocked multiple upgraded guns for Tom Gibbons. Many of these guns, such as the one in question, have surfaced from time to time. If somebody wants them as an example of a modern upgrade of a classic gun, so be it. If somebody is offering these guns as original Lefever Optimus guns, shame on them.
Last edited by DrBob; 02/09/13 08:23 PM.
