Lefever DS 16

[Rick Losey]

a well worn but solid field gun, made with 16 gauge barrels on a 20 gauge XX frame - which seems to be the norm for this model. If the serial number list is right its a late gun 1914/15

Wearing 28" barrels it tips the scales just under 6 1/2 pounds. The 2 5/8 drop seems to fit me well, we will see once I get it out for clays. The chokes are a little tight -.026 and .035 so I will have to see how much the RST spreaders will open them up for grouse and woodcock which is what I plan to use it for.

[Garry L Gordon]

Rick, that is one nice looking gun, and if the spreaders work for you, one deadly grouse gun.

[Brian Dudley]

Good job getting the gun to show up that well on a white background.

[Rick Losey]

thanks Brian, I modified the exposure compensation because I didn't want to take a strobe out in the snow yesterday, they are really not that weather sealed

I hope to get the right weather day to do that later

[Harold Lee Pickens]

A DS 16 is a great gun, and that one looks in great shape. That XX frame was used on all their 16's. I have a DSE 20, yep, with ejectors, and 26" uncut barrels. It weighs 5 lbs 15 oz on my postage meter. Haven't shot it in years ,was a nice little grouse gun .
Yours in better shape than mine. Mine #65208

[Frank Srebro]

Looks like a great gun Rick. Happy for you.

[Victor Wasylyna]

A levitating shotgun? Very pretty ... and futuristic.

-Victor

[Rick Losey]

A levitating shotgun? Very pretty ... and futuristic.

-Victor

I wondered when someone would say something

the trick is to throw it up level to the ground and use a really fast shutter speed :rotf::rotf::rotf:

I held it up in a backdrop stand with white string which could be removed in post where it did not blend into the snowy background.

[charlie cleveland]

i have a ds grade lefever its a 20 gauge with english stock 28 inch barrels...it is a nice gun i dont shoot it much but it will pattern on paper lots better than some of my 12 and 16 ga s...good tight chokes...these are good handeling guns...charlie

[Rick Losey]

I shot clays with the "new" Lefever today- it seems to fit me well, and did a good job crushing the targets when i did my job.

next is a session at the pattern board with regular and spreader loads

[Garhart Stephenson]

I have one of these in 16 also. 26" barrels, SK & I/M. I have taken a lot of birds with the 6 lb. wonder. I have not owned many firearms that I like as much.

It is now in need of restocking, so it will become an upgrade project. The stock had been repaired when I purchased it, but I knew that eventually the the repair would begin to fail. After a tremendous amount of use, it has. It's still together, but splitting apart on one side. I have extra walnut.

[Dave Noreen]

A Durston Special is a good starting point for a project. The late Bill Harvey started here with 20-gauge with a blown barrel. It is now a 28-gauge.

81596

81597

81598

81599

[Rick Losey]

makes sense-

it is a blank canvas to start with

[Harold Lee Pickens]

A DS 16 is something I keep an eye out for at the local gun shows. Saw a couple in the past 6 mo. but they either had blued frames, or polished to silver frames. Brian had a really nice 12 ga sold recently, but I'm just not a 12 ga guy.
A 30" DS would be a nice find. The book lists 32" also, but don't know if they made those in 20 and 16.

[Brian Dudley]

A DS 16 is something I keep an eye out for at the local gun shows. Saw a couple in the past 6 mo. but they either had blued frames, or polished to silver frames. Brian had a really nice 12 ga sold recently, but I'm just not a 12 ga guy.
A 30" DS would be a nice find. The book lists 32" also, but don't know if they made those in 20 and 16.


I personally own a much nicer DS than that one I recently sold. At least in my opinion. I let it go once and was able to get it back. It would be hard to let it go again.

Though I don't shoot it much anymore. It is just too light to shoot a lot of rounds with, for me at least. I may just hunt with it more.

[Garhart Stephenson]

This is the nicest DS I own. Somebody sent her to Germany for serious decoration once upon a time. It came to me at an outstanding price, in need of serious internal work. I was happy to spend 4 1/2 hours carefully hand fitting the mismatched parts. As you can see, she's no gun safe queen.
http://https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/59299_512x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/59299_512x768/)
http://https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/59294_512x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/59294_512x768/)
http://https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/57905_512x768.jpg (https://www.jpgbox.com/page/57905_512x768/)

[Brian Dudley]

There is another one similar to that out there. German embellished and even a second set of barrels made for it from scratch. That was a feat for sure for them to do that.

[charlie cleveland]

i have a ds 20 ga with 28 inch barrels it too is very light with straight stock...charlie