I took one of those three hour tours yesterday, driving up and back to look at a few guns from an "estate". Friend of a friend gave someone my contact information and I have been getting a series of photos, taken by a cell phone, that gave me hope enough to drive about a hundred miles each way to look at a few guns. Typical seller of estate guns claimed that he was not well versed in guns but knew that Lefevers were old so hence rare and valuable. Yada, yada, yada, we all hear that line when dealing with sellers who wish to be vague about facts.
The gun I liked best was a pivot lever opener that was a 16 ga. Lefever I was told. I have a 10 and 12 pivot lever but no 16 so this was the gun I was interested in mostly. In fact I could not remember even holding a 16 pivot lever. I guessed that the 16 would be "rarer" than the 10 and 12 as they dominated sales in that period. By serial number it was late for a pivot lever but as we say you never know with Lefevers. There were half a dozen guns with at least two other Lefevers in the background so I figured it was worth the trip. They were priced high, but asking price mostly is these days. Sale price is either agreeable or you come home empty handed which bothers me less and less everyday.
Now is when I usually crow about finding the last perfect gun. We all like to find that kind of stuff. Well the laugh is on me this time. The seller deftly mixed and matched pictures of the three Lefevers to create the "16", which by the way was a 10-12 ga. photo compilation. Mixing photos of three guns to make it look like one gun. Knew it right away when I got there but after the long drive I looked anyways. Six gun in total to look at. Seller claimed he did not know the ga sizes and figured the larger one was a 12 instead of the 10 it was. Yeah right, but I was here so I looked anyways.
Back home I reconstructed how it was done using pictures of all three guns. It was an artful con in my estimation. The "bore" pictures were of the 10, the stock wrist were of the DS on both sides, the rear of the stock was of the 12 on one side and the ten on the second, top of the receiver was of the 10 pivot lever. The barrels were mostly of the DS with one one the 10 and one section of the 12 I think. The picture of the bores I got was of the 10 bores that was fairly good inside. Poor lighting sets the mood, or in this case blends all the photos.
The 10 ga was junk mostly. The action was decent but stock and barrels were not. Upon inspection the ribs were loose, partly missing and externally it was badly pitted. Stock was broken and repaired with 19 small nails. I counted them. It was a 10 pivot lever but in extremely bad shape.
The other two Lefevers were 12's, a beater DS and a G grade with barrels ruined be some of the worst internal pitting I have seen outside of a sewer pipe. The G grade was also cracked in three places at the wrist but at least no nails yet. The DS was at least a solid gun, not much finish left with only one minor flaw, the LOP was right on 10". Must have been a child's first gun at some point or else a leprechauns pigeon gun.
There were two rifles, which were .22's that had bores so bad that the rifling was almost invisible. They were trash. There was one .45 auto that must have been a bring back by some serviceman. It was in very nice shape with only one minor flaw. The serial numbers had all been removed, grinding is not a new engraving style. I am sure the numbers have been gone for fifty-sixty years. But I refuse to even think about buying a pistol with that type of custom work these days.
All in all it was an easy estate sale to pass up. Five grand for everything I was told. Or the three Lefevers were being sold as a group at 3500 asking price, or my choice at 1500 each. The .22's were 400 each, worth perhaps that for the pair if in 90% condition, as parts guns or projects ten bucks each to me. The .45 I did not even ask. Like I said an easy group of guns to pass up on.
Now most people would have been pissed about wasting more than half a day on such a venture. Not me. I've been able to find a few gems in such places. I would have bought the .45 if it had serial numbers. I still have my money and hope next time will be better. And best of all I do not own that pile of trash. If the seller bought those guns for a grand, which I suspect he did, he will never get his money out of them. And if he gets caught with that .45 his problems are just starting I told him. And he wondered why I put on white glove to handle those guns, no finger prints I told him to cause rust. Little did I know rust might not be the worst problem. Like I said I am happy and it was a lovely day for a drive.
Last edited by KY Jon; 07/20/14 10:47 AM.
