doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com "New manufactured" Lefever project

David,
Actually, the action profile should be fully defined in the software used to make the action. If this were to be a fully intergrated project, that data could be used by someone with a CNC stockmaking machine (e.g., Coles, CSM, etc).

I would expect that some liberties would be taken in the stock inletting area of the action to reduce the stocking difficulties as much as possible, while still retaining the original look as much as practicable. I think I'd consider this project similar to the Ford GT project where they didn't replicate the original GT40, but rather made it a commercially viable product with modern conveniences/enhancements.

I measured five XX Lefever frames and every one of them were approx. 1 1/32 between center of firing pin holes.Guns weigh from 20 ga. 5lbs 14 ounces to 16 ga. 6 lbs 12 ounces. If the barrels will interchange and can be fitted to original frames you will sell many more sets i believe. If the barrels were put in production there would be some ordered even though the frame and forend would be made later. Just my opinion. Bobby

Vizslas
I just feel Uncle Dans guns are a work of are and we should not change them for something we wont. If he wanted a 28ga he would have built one. I think there are plenty of mess with Lefevers out there with out making more of them. Check out Bass Pro and Jaquas to see some messed with guns.
Bob

Bob,
Your respect of the Lefever gun is honorable. But, I think you'll agree, this gun is not ever going to be accepted by the purists as a real Lefever. It's logical that it wouldn't be, since the lineage of the Lefever company is not the producer of this product. That doesn't make it lessor of a product, IMO. Just different.

In the objective view that this product is not a real Lefever, the makers of this product wouldn't be "changing" anything, but rather adopting the desireable characteristics of a Lefever, whether mechanical or aesthetics, and incorporating them into "their product". These will be Earle-Hurst actions with Lefever features. I'm sure they'll do their best to honor Dan, but it will be an Earle-Hurst product nonetheless. So, they won't be 'messing with' any original Lefevers.

I'm thrilled they are willing to pursue the project no matter how faithful to the original the outcome.

Chuck,

Thank you for the cost breakdown. I was really thinking more along the lines of $2000 for the barrels. I'd say this as a mass produced set of Beretta 68X goes for over $900, and a DT10 (which is still a mass produced gun) goes for over $2,000.

Although I think it would be a really good idea to make the barrels so they fit original guns, I'm not terribly concerned about the gun being perfectly original otherwise. I'm more concerned with solid functioning along with a good "canvas" for engraving.

Steven,
I'm not too concern how faithful each feature or dimension is reproduced. I think of the gun as another great effort of an American made modern sxs gun.

The dolls head is a bit of a conumdrum on this gun, IMO. The design has an adjustable hinge to take up/quickly fit barrels yet the dolls head could limit the adjustment, especially since the expectation of high quality is the closeness of fit. The dolls head could, theoretically, be fit extremely close with CNC machining. This could negate the benefit of an adjustable hinge. The dolls head is a cool looking feature, but could be an obstacle to interchangeability of barrles made by a different maker.

Steven M,

As I understand it, the barrels are the question at moment. Mr Ken refuses to use anything but the best barrels they can acquire within reason. Once the barrels are settled then a pricing for the fitting can be developed.

I do believe Chuck is close to reality for the over all costs. The engraving could run much higher if you start looking for gold inlays, bulino, etc. Or you go for a simple border and leave it at that. If funds got tight, I would invest in the wood and stock work now. The gun can be engraved much later.

I also agree with Doug Mann about the stocking. I have a Lefever G that is a project gun. I had some nice Black Walnut turned for a stock. The stocker did a nice job. The final inletting is all needle file work, with very light touches of razor sharp chisels. Enough to leave me shaking after even short sessions. It has convinced me that I ain't going to grow up an become a stock maker.

Steve Earle will provide an action to be envied, I am sure. He is driven to perfection in his work.

I have contacted Cecil Fredi about some wood. He sent me photos of 15 blanks to look over. The nice thing is knowing I have plenty of time to choose and to save for the next steps.

Pete

If the barrel sets are in the $1500 range, then this company may provide a viable alternative. They can produce a barrel set milled completly out of a single piece of tool steel. I believe it was 1040, but the type of steel is not on their site anymore. They produced some o/u barrels for the John Wilkes company a few years ago. I talked to them in 2004 and o/u barrel sets in quantity were in the $1000 range. They would need a 3D model of the barrel for a quote. They should be able to keep tolerance on the barrel sets to 0.0005 - 0.001 for the fitting surfaces. This would probably allow all barrels to be exchanged with all receivers and eliminate most if not all hand fitting.
http://www.alphamachining.com/products_shotgun.html

I am willing to build the 3D model if you need someone to do that for you. I was a mechanical engineer for 10 years, so the model wouldn't be difficult for me, if I can get a barrel set to measure. I have access to ProEngineer and Catia solid model programs.

Let me know if I can help.

This is a great point, Chuck. Are there any positives (other than cosmetic) to the dollshead? I had a nice discussion with Ken yesterday and did my best to present the anti-dollshead, pro "DS-style rib extension" argument (also doing away with the cocking indicators per the DS/I grades). It's my impression these issues are still on the table.

Bill

I once had the chance to purchase a upgraded DS 20ga for a fairly reasonable sum and the gun was really fairly well done. The deciding factors were the lack off the dolls head and the cocking indicators, a upgraded DS is still a DS and I think it would be a big mistake to leave these features off.