Lefever A Grade model 6 Skeet

[Brian Dudley]

I have always had a soft spot for Ithaca Lefever A grades. I think they are dressed up just enough from a Nitro Special platform to make them a pretty attractive gun that one can be proud to own. There were 6 different models of these made and none was nicer than the Model 6 Skeet. Fitted with 26" barrels, skeet chokes, large BTFE, Ejectors and Single Trigger.

This is a model 6 Skeet gun of mine in 12g. I picked it up a couple years back in pretty rough condition. A while before that I owned a Model 5 A grade but eventually sold it and later regretted it. I told myself that the next chance I had to buy an A grade, I would. And this was the one. When the bidding war ened and the dust settled, I paid a little more than I should given the condition, but I really wanted it. The wood was beat and very oil soaked, barrels had a loose bottom rib back by the forend lug, the frame was buffed silver and the ejectors did not work properly. On and off, I have been picking away at the work on it when I could find the time.

The gun has been restocked, barrels repaired and rust blued, New screws made for the frame and then case coloring. I finally got the chance to put the action back together. Anyone who has farted with Nitro Specials knows it is a pain in rear to reassemble the hammers and mainsprings back into the frames. I just kept putting it off.

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[Mark Landskov]

Very nice, Brian! From an article in the DGJ a few years back, I now know that these guns were not made in large numbers.

[Justin Julian]

That looks really great...awesome job on the restock.

[charlie cleveland]

really nice that wood is sure pretty...charlie

[scott kittredge]

WOW, I like it!! :bowdown:

[Daryl Corona]

You are amazing Brian. Wow!:bowdown:

[Dean Romig]

Nice work Brian.

Being admittedly ignorant in Lefever guns I find myself wondering why the Lefever name is even on this gun?... it looks so much like a NID or the "New Model Ithaca".

[Brian Dudley]

Ithaca purchased the Lefever line in 1915 (if I remember correctly). And continued making the side plate guns of Dan Lefever's last design. That line was discontinued and then the Lefever Nitro Special was introduced in 1923. It was an Ithaca designed gun that only was marked with the Lefever name. The A grade line of Lefevers were introduced along side the Nitro Specials in the mid. 1930s and made until WW2.
There were also Single Barreled guns made with the Lefever name on them.

The Lefever line was very basic in design and do not even share many similarities between other Ithaca models. They bolt only through the rib extension with the top lever.

[Dave Noreen]

Beautiful work Brian!!

Lefever Arms Co. of Syracuse, New York, was bought out by a shell corporation in early 1916, and all the assets and the rights to use the Lefever name in the manufacture of shotguns was moved to Ithaca. A short time later ownership of this corporation, Lefever Arms Co., Inc. was transferred to the owners of Ithaca Gun Co. -- George Livermore, Louis Smith, Claude Smith, Paul Livermore and Eunice Smith. Through 1919, this corporation, operating within the plant of Ithaca Gun Co. finished and sold off the remaining inventory of side-plate Lefever guns. In 1921, this corporation introduced the lower priced Lefever Nitro Special, still operating as a separate corporation. The Model 2 single barrel and the Model 3 SBT were added to the Lefever line in 1927, and the Model 4 double barrel vent rib trap gun in 1929. Also in 1929, the family formed another corporation, Western Arms Corp., to build an even lower priced double the Long Range Double. Lefever and Western continued to operate as separate corporations into 1933. By 1934, Lefever and Western guns are marked as being made by the Lefever or Western Branches of Ithaca Gun Co., Inc.

The A-Grades were pretty short lived. The Model 5 Lefever A-Grade was introduced in 1934. The following year they began offering the Skeet version, and pictured the Model 5 A-Grade with the beavertail forearm and single trigger. In Ithaca's January 25, 1936, catalogues and price lists the began calling it the Model 6 Special Skeet Gun. By the February 8, 1939, Ithaca Gun Co. catalogues and price lists the Model 6 Special Skeet Gun is listed as "Discontinued". By the 1940 catalogues and price lists the Lefever Model 5 A-Grade is gone as well, and the Lefever Model 1 Nitro Special is now shown with the profiled receiver of the late A-Grades --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/LaterLefeverNitroSpecialreceiver.jpg

[Daryl Corona]

You never cease to amaze me, Dave.:bowdown:

[Brian Dudley]

I have come across a number of those late Nitro Specials made with surplus A grade sculpted frames.

[Dean Romig]

Here is a sixteen gauge New Model Ithaca skeet gun made in 1935 (first year production), according to discussions I had with Walt Snyder, for comparison, that I owned until last spring. This must have been one of the very first ones as the chokes are not marked for skeet but by measurement they are skeet chokes and their contour and length appear original.



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[Brian Dudley]

Dean, that NID 16 you pictured now wears a new splinter forend, recut checkering and a sunburst recoil pad.

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[Dean Romig]

Nice job Brian. That new pad adds a very nice touch.

I hope the owner can still shoot it as well with that nice little forend.

[Brian Dudley]

Hey, it's what he wanted. And what is likely correct for the gun.

[Dave Noreen]

I own two mid-1930s Ithaca built Skeet Guns. A No. 4E 12-gauge with all the bells & whistles, which according to Walter was shipped 12/7/36 --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/IthacaBeavertailsside.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/IthacaNIDGrade4E12-gaugeSkeetGun.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/IthacaNIDGrade4E12-GaugeSkeetGunStockLeft.jpg

And, a 20-gauge Lefever Model 5 A-Grade optioned up with single non-selective trigger, beavertail forearm, twin ivory sights, and Ithaca bridge trestle recoil pad. It was one of nine similar guns shipped to Bauers Sport Shop 5/1/35.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/Skeet2001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Ithaca%20and%20Lefever/Skeet2002.jpg

The guns are both marked S and S on the barrel flats. The 12-gauge chokes measure .009" right and .016" left. The 20-gauge .008" right and .014" left. Both considerably more choke than my Ansley H. Fox Skeet Guns and my Remington pump and autoloader SKEET choke guns of that era.