Frank Lefever

[Brian Dudley]

over the summer time I finished up a pretty extensive project in bringing back a special Lefever from the scrap heap. The gun was found in Utica, NY where it had been in the same family for at least 60+ years. And the state of the gun was as they had always knew it. Poor. The barrels had been cut to 26" from the assumed original length of 32". The ribs were loose. The buttstock was hacked up and scarfed together from a few different pieces of wood. The trigger guard was cut, drilled and mangled. The engraving was dirty, worn and there were some mechanical issues as well as bent up trigger shoes. The gun was passed on by a few people before the current owner saw its potential and decided to rescue it. As well as being very dedicated to bringing it back to its rightful state.

The gun is odd in that instead of is being marked "Lefever Arms Co.", the side plates are engraved "Frank Lefever". Frank was one of Uncle Dan Lefevers Sons, he worked in the Lefever factory, and later on for Hollenbeck/3 barrel/Royal, Hunter Arms and Remington. And after that opening his own gunsmithing operation, also named the Lefever Arms Co. First in Ilion, then Frankfort and then carried on by his son in Lee Center.

It is a real curiosity as to why the gun bears his name. Was it a personal gun? Was it a presentation gun? An apprenticeship gun? Who knows. The gun is not unique in that one other gun has been found with the name "Frank Lefever" on it. That gun was about 10,000 serial numbers ahead of this one. both are a curiosity for sure.

Below are summaries of some of the work done on the gun as well as finished photos of the project. The gun was being displayed in Vegas last weekend by the owner, maybe some of you saw it?



The gun when it was found.


113488

113489

113490


installation and shaping of a new horn forend tip. As well as refinishing the original forend and recutting its checkering.


113491

113492

113493

113494

113495

113496

113497


The original trigger guard strap had to be cut off and another one welded on. Along with some light reshaping of the new scrap to match the Lefever style. The guard is shown below next to an original Lefever straight grip guard. Geoffroy Engraved the strap and I finished it for an aged look.


113498

113499

113500

113500

113501

113502

113503


The stock blank chosen to be put on the gun.


113504


And some photos of the finished gun. Breck Gorman also stripped and relayed the ribs and refinished the barrel finish. There is nothing that could be done about the cut barrels. in the long run, 26" is not all that bad. At least they were not shorter. Or else we would have been looking for replacement barrels too.
I replaced all of the screws on the gun as well, also engraved by Geoffroy.


Enjoy.


113505

113506

113507

113508

113509

113510

113511

113512

113513

113514

113515

113516

113517

113518

113519

113520

113521

113522

113523

[Reggie Bishop]

That is an excellent result!

[Brett Trimble]

Thanks for sharing this, Brian. Masterful work!

[charlie cleveland]

just wow....charlie

[Andrew Sacco]

Holy Cow. Brian, did any of the metal engraving require hand touch up or chasing? It looks amazing.

[Brian Dudley]

Holy Cow. Brian, did any of the metal engraving require hand touch up or chasing? It looks amazing.


Not really. Just a little bit at the back of the top tang around the screw. Everything cleaned up very well with just ultrasonic cleaning.

[Garry L Gordon]

What an amazing reclamation. Great example of extraordinary craftsmanship.

[George Lang]

Brian great work as always.

[Michael D Hankinson]

Another great project Brian, is there an accounting of what this restoration cost the current owner? I'm wondering if restoring a beautiful gun like that would be more costly than finding an equivalent unless the current owner came from the family that owned it originally.

[Brian Dudley]

It was a labor of love for sure and I am thankful to the owner for being committed to saving the gun as that is what it was about. Anyone should know that none of these things are worth what is spent on them for restoration. It just is what it is.

I will not publicly share the cost of the work. If you have a specific project you are interested in, you can feel free to contact me.

[Andrew Sacco]

It was a labor of love for sure and I am thankful to the owner for being committed to saving the gun as that is what it was about. Anyone should know that none of these things are worth what is spent on them for restoration. It just is what it is.

I will not publicly share the cost of the work. If you have a specific project you are interested in, you can feel free to contact me.

Nothing any of us does makes any fiscal sense at all. My wife, however, thinks I'm profitable : )

[terry buffum]

This gun looks to be about a B grade, which cost the same as an AHE Parker circa 1900. Even with the cut barrels, it was well worth saving. Thanks, Brian for taking it on and doing a great job!

[J. Scott Hanes]

REALLY appreciate your taking the time to photograph and document this restoration. I am envious of your skill and attention to details. Certainly a fantastic piece of work. Thank you!

[Randy G Roberts]

Of all the excellent work on display in this thread I am drawn to the butt treatment with the heel and toe plates like a fat boy to french fries, that's just me. I can't quit looking at that. Nice job on the entire project Brian!

[edgarspencer]

As soon as I saw the stepped lock plate in the first picture, I knew it was gonna be a good'n.

[Brian Dudley]

As soon as I saw the stepped lock plate in the first picture, I knew it was gonna be a good'n.

The crazy thing is that the head of the stock WAS original. The inletting was perfect. But everything on the outside was so molested and banged up that absolutely no original detail or traces remained. You could not even see the steps in the wood where the steps in the plates were. Let alone any sign of what the cheeks were shaped like, or if there were any sort of drop points.

[Mike Franzen]

Congratulations to all who worked on the project. Great to see something like this brought back from all the neglect and abuse it suffered. If desperate times require desperate measures then this gun must have lived through some of the worst.

[Arthur Shaffer]

Great job! I too love the ebony work. The partial plates on the butt are really nice. I guess it is the nature of the wood, but a lot of these fail for one reason or another. I have 4 different guns waiting for new tips right now. I am waiting to do them all at once. I keep a big stock of ebony for guitar work, but don't like working with it due to allergies. Getting it ready for use between glue compatibility and ensuring dryness is tough.

[Brian Dudley]

It is all buffalo horn. Not ebony.

[allen newell]

Masterful work Brian.

[Arthur Shaffer]

I didn't pick up on that. It is so dark I presumed it was a really dark ebony. That's even morwe impressive!

[Sara LeFever]

Amazing work Brian! I love seeing this gun returned to splendor.

[Ken Snyder]

Congratulations to the owner- who had the foresight to see what it could be, and also to Brian for making that happen! Another remarkable save from the Patron Saint of All Lost Guns. Not a single wrong turn on this one and a return to service of a very special example of Lefever history. Just beautiful, and it's even better in person!

[Richard Flanders]

What a beauty Brian! Bravo. And I love 26" guns so that wouldn't have slowed me down on that one even a little. I really like the horn trim; that stuff is really tough.

[Larry Stauch]

Masterfully done. Very nice indeed.