I've told this story before. I was at a local gun show and asked a vendor if he had any Syracuse Lefever guns or parts. An old guy overheard me and said he had some parts he'd sell. I followed him to his house several miles away and bought a 12 ga. DSE grade action and forend. He told me he had bought these parts from the estate of a gunsmith who had died about 10 years earlier.
About a month later, I was at another gun show about 80-90 miles away. I rooted through a large box of stock wood and was very happy to find a nice Lefever butt stock at a very reasonable price. When I got it home, I checked the fit on a 16 ga. G Grade frame, and it fit as closely as you would expect from a factory stock. Then I looked at the serial number, and it seemed familiar. I found it was a match to the DSE grade action and forend I had bought a month earlier and 80-90 miles away.
Considering that these parts had been separated at a gunsmith's estate sale a decade earlier, what are the odds that I would find them when and where I did? Of course, I held out hope that I would find the barrels and reunite the entire gun, but that hasn't happened yet. I did find an orphan set of DSE barrels that I was able to fit to this gun, but I still hope to find the original barrels. I'd probably have a better chance at winning the Powerball jackpot.
