Lefever G grade 10 gauge

[Pete Lester]

A new gun followed me home from the shoot at Hausman's this past weekend. My first Lefever (thanks to Frank Cronin for his evaluation and encouragement). It is a G grade from 1903, all original, and screws don't appear to have been ever turned. Solid wood with no cracks or repairs, butt plate is in great shape. It weighs 9 1/2 pounds, 30" damascus barrels with a faded pattern, perfect bores at .775 and .777 with .037 and .040 chokes. The barrel walls at breach and muzzle are stout. It has good dimensions at 1 3/4" x 2 3/4" x 14 1/16". It fits me really well, a broke a 24x25 with it tonight on my first round of trap with it. I am very pleased and look forward to knocking down some crows, ducks and geese with it this fall. I forgot to bring my gun vise to club tonight so I will see what I can get it to do on the pattern board tomorrow. Scott took a couple of shots tonight resting his arms on a big wooden bin and we got about 77% with 1 1/8 #6. I am pretty sure it will do better when we can dead center the pattern in the circle. I am very happy with my first Lefever, especially since it is a short ten with 30" barrels and a good fit. :clap:

[KCordell]

Fantastic gun. I have a 12 g grade and shoot quite well with it. Thick barrels on that 10!

[charlie cleveland]

pete it looks like you have a keeper...i too like the lefevers i have my dads old lefever e grade 10 ga all it knows was ducks and turkeys now just turkey...i have a ds grade 20 also i really like..i wish i had a 8 ga lefever but there scarse.....charlie

[Rick Losey]

Pete

Great looking gun

Sorry I missed meeting you in person at Hausmann's

I have appreciated your advice with the short tens

[Mark Landskov]

Awesome Lefever! I owned four Lefevers and regret selling them. My ca1903 'G' Grade 12 was my favorite. Cheers!

[Frank Cronin]

Congrats and nice shooting Pete! You got a real nice and honest Lefever. You have to be careful because just like Parkers, Lefevers are just as addicting too....:cool:

[Pete Lester]

Pete

Great looking gun

Sorry I missed meeting you in person at Hausmann's

I have appreciated your advice with the short tens

Thanks Rick, sorry we missed touching base at the shoot. I think it might be a good idea in the future if before the shoot everyone agrees to stop at the PGCA display at a predesignated time and we take a roll call. Then everyone would know who else was there.

[Daryl Corona]

Nice addition Pete. I've always admired Lefevers and that ten looks like a good one. I'm going to have to pick Frank's brain to learn more about them. It's the only other American SxS I think is worth adding to the flock. Enjoy.

[Brian Dudley]

Looks like all the weight is in the barrels! Lefever 10s are not seen all that often. Especially later ones like yours.

[Pete Lester]

Looks like all the weight is in the barrels! Lefever 10s are not seen all that often. Especially later ones like yours.

Thanks Brian, I think it is hard to find a hammerless short ten by any maker that is in good original condition with good/modern dimensions these days. This one points very naturally and each person who shot it last night was breaking all their targets.

[Pete Lester]

Nice addition Pete. I've always admired Lefevers and that ten looks like a good one. I'm going to have to pick Frank's brain to learn more about them. It's the only other American SxS I think is worth adding to the flock. Enjoy.

Relative to your last sentence, you know better than that, but keep repeating it over and over as part of a 12 step program to stop buying double guns. But if you hang around Frank you will fall off that wagon again and again. :rotf:

[Daryl Corona]

I know Pete, is'nt it a curse?

[KCordell]

Thanks Brian, I think it is hard to find a hammerless short ten by any maker that is in good original condition with good/modern dimensions these days. This one points very naturally and each person who shot it last night was breaking all their targets.

You're absolutely correct about modern dimensions. I had never really shouldered a lefever before I found this one and it fit just like a glove. I thought I would show you what the barrels look like after I had them done a few years ago. this truly is one of my favorite guns to take to the field.

The 10 ga Lefevers are really tough to find. Again, congrats on a great find.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn128/code337/20150611_160706_zps2aepqwdg.jpg (http://s303.photobucket.com/user/code337/media/20150611_160706_zps2aepqwdg.jpg.html)


http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn128/code337/20150611_160912_zps3ryqu8sz.jpg (http://s303.photobucket.com/user/code337/media/20150611_160912_zps3ryqu8sz.jpg.html)

[Pete Lester]

I took the gun back to the range tonight for pattern testing and this time I had my gun vise. I went through my notes and loaded up two shells of 1 1/8 of magnum #6. Federal hull 2 7/8". W-W 209 primer, 22.5 gr of Green Dot, SP10 wad, 1/2 fiber filler wad, fold crimp. The gun shot a little bit high and to the left. The right barrel with .037 gave a pattern 77.2% in a 30" circle at 40 yards, the left barrel with .040 produced a pattern of 87.4%. The tag on the gun said it was full and X-full. Seems like that is about right.

[Richard Flanders]

Well, looks like you just have to limit yourself to birds going right to left so you don't shoot behind them. What a nice gun. Those barrels are hell for stout!