EE grade Lefever Refinish Barrels or not

[David Penland]

I just finished restocking a 16 gauge EE Lefever. I am debating whether or not to refinish the barrels which I would do myself. I have done a couple of sets of chain Damascus barrels and they turned out pretty good. Both were LC barrels and they looked more period correct than new, however the pattern really looked good as I saw it. I would appreciate opinions. Barrels ring and are solid.

[charlie cleveland]

I believe I would redo the barrels...charlie

[Jay Gardner]

I guess the question is are you going to redo the receiver? If you have already restocked the gun and you do the barrels you might as well go all the way in. That being said, I would probably redo the barrels especially if you can do them yourself.

[Ken Hill]

I think it is a toss up. The barrels look good with the rest of the action. However, since you can do the barrels and get the finish you want--redo them.

Ken

[Frank Cronin]

My vote is to redo the barrels. Restocked already, why not? Plus they are very pretty when redone black and white.

[Dean Romig]

That beautiful chain Damascus would really pop if refinished.

IMO however, I don’t think a highly contrasting black & white finish would look good.



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[Mark Garrett]

Redo them . How bout a picture of the new stock.

[David Penland]

Thanks for everyone’s input. I will post pictures when I get the barrels done. I shot the gun yesterday and it handles very well. Choked full and full it evaporate clays.

[Brian Dudley]

I think they are decent looking enough to hold their own if you decided not to.

[George Lang]

I agree with Brian. Fine as is.

[Dave Noreen]

I too agree with Brian. Leave them as they are.

[Bruce Day]

Here is a high condition E with chain for reference.

I agree with others who are ambivalent about refinishing your medium condition Lefever which is really pretty nice the way that it is. You know that sometimes refinishing does not turn out the way you hoped.

[Mills Morrison]

It looks like there is just some old gunk on the barrels. You might try a good cleaning first

[James L. Martin]

My vote would be to leave the barrels alone.

[Joseph Sheerin]

Unless you plan to also do reciever.... I'd leave em as is.

You already replaced the stock, so I'd either go all in, or leave em as they are.....

Looks good either way from what I see.

[allen newell]

I agree with Brian also

[todd allen]

Looking at the barrels, I'm in the camp of leave em alone. Then I see the wood. Yes, I think I would refinish the barrels. Not sure on the receiver.
If you could ship it out to me, I could analyze it more thoroughly. I like to compare receiver colors to quail feathers. (it's complicated)
Probably by this coming January I would able give you a better opinion on which way to go on the receiver colors.

[Harry Collins]

The barrels look good and I would bet that a good cleaning would do wonders. If mine I would follow by submerging in a 20% sulfuric acid for five minutes then a good boil. That may just be all she needs.

[Breck Gorman]

If that gun were mine, and I wish it was, I would refinish those barrels, and make that beautiful chain Damascus pop. That wood is gorgeous. I would make the barrels complement that incredible wood, and turn every head at every station. Quite a package.

[Dean Romig]

And you have the talent to do it Breck!





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