doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stuck Lefever Barrels

It's me again Margaret....for the life of me I cannot figure out why I cannot remove the barrels on my Lefever G after the forend is removed. The odd thing is that it's never been a problem before. The face on does seem to fit a tad tight. I'm at a loss. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Gary;
I assume this a single hook gun. If so the pin in the bbl lug rides inside the hook for cocking. In disassembly you have to make certain the bbls are held back against the face as you open them to insure the pin clears the end of the hook. Another thing to try is to un-cock the gun before dis-assembly which keeps the hook down tighter in the frame bottom. If it has the three position safety as do most Lefevers this is easily done by opening the gun which pushes the safety slide to the rear fire position, then simply hold the triggers while closing. Then snap off the forend & see if it will come apart. Lefevers should be able to assemble & dis-assemble or have the forend removed or re-assembled either cocked or uncocked, so no problem with this. They do sometimes though dis-assemble easier with the hammers down than cocked.

It is a single hook. Tried all the above but no luck. When I put it together it didn't seem to go together as easy as it had in the past. It seems like it's not freeing the hook when I break it open. Is there a way to give it some slack to free the hook?

Don't be annoyed if this sounds stupid. You don't by any chance have two of them and are trying the wrong set of barrels, are you? The description of "going on tight" made me wonder. Two pipes has given you the best suggestions I can think of. Make sure you're doing what he said about keeping the breech end of the barrels as close to the standing breech as possible, while opening and trying to remove them. I have had rare occasions of difficulty like you described.

Jim,

I do have another set of barrels and if they had not been shortened this is something I am certainly capable of. I did finally get them apart as piper described but it was hard as heck and they don't want to go back together much easier either. Anything I can adjust to improve making the barrels easier to remove and put together?

If it came apart and went together for you before, I can't imagine. If it has been this way ever since you've owned it, there's no telling what someone may have done to it. Lots of information may be missing in this story. Give us a little more background, please. There aren't many parts involved in these brilliantly designed guns but who knows what might have been peened or mauled by some nut with a hammer that was smarter than he was.

Jim,

Actually the more I break it open and remove the barrels the better it seems to get so this is most likely more a matter of operator error than anything else. Piper's technique by grasping the upper portion of the barrels and pulling against the breech face while breaking open at the same time removes the barrels nicely even with the triggers cocked which is the way you should be able to remove them I would think. Want to take this opportunity before I forget to thank you guys for your advise and help.

I just had this very problem on a F Grade. The gun was dry and dirty, not allowing the hook to seat fully in the action bottom. I cleaned it thoroughly in my ultrasonic cleaner and lubricated it.

As others have said, with the forend off, open the gun by pushing the breach end of the barrels toward the breach face. The clearance between the hook and barrel pin is tight.

If the barrels are allowed to slide ever so slightly toward the muzzle, the pin will engage the hook.

Hope this helps.