Lefever Nitro Express
 

(Title should be Nitro Special...It pays to proofread)

I don't know where a Lefever Nitro Special fits into the discussion of "fine doubles but I looked at one today at the LGS.

It's a 16 ga, with 28" barrels. The gun shop guy checked and said it had 2 3/4" chambers. I didn't check the chokes. Twin triggers and extractors. The wood looked pretty decent, and it seemed to lock up tight. After a quick wipedown with an oiley rag that seemed to remove an inch of dust, and maybe fine rust, the metal looked a lot better. The stock may have been cut, there is a really nicely installed recoil pad, a "White Line" I believe was the brand name. The S/N is 2580X which a website I found indicates a manufacture date of 1928 (They were made by Ithaca? Didn't know that.) I gather the Nitro Special was the low price line?

It was tagged less than $200.00 so I put it on layaway while I do some research. I figure if I got through with it, the worst thing that I'll have will be a lamp pole. And I can cancel the layaway if I want.

I took a couple of pictures with my cell phone. They're not very good I'm afraid.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps79193832.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps6c8be4a4.jpg

Wayne , what is the LGS? At that price you will not lose money and 16ga. is a great caliber ? A superb rainey day gun! Andy

The Nitro Special finished up life as an Ithica product, and was a pretty hardy working gun. They will, like everything else, eventually go up in value. I sold a .410 last month at the Baltimore show for a bit over $1200, but I've seen them fetching high teens regularly. Sixteens bring more than twelves, and the price you were quoted may even be lower than most twelves.

It's Greentops in Richmond, Va., Andy.

I figured for the money it would be hard to lose anything. As one of my buddies who works there said I couldn't buy a fake double to hang over a fireplace for that.

Certainly worth $200 I'd think. Not sure if the wood is original?

I don't know if it's original or not. May well not be. I'm new at this double gun stuff as you can probably tell. I was just looking over the rack and saw this one and noticed the price. I figured if it locked up tight, and it does, the safety holds firm, and the bores are shiney, there isn't much way to take much of a beating for $200.00. Even if the stock isn't original, it's not bad looking at all.

the Lefever Nitro Special started life as an Ithaca product as well

solid, durable "modern" (for its time) design - no relation to the other real Lefevers - Ithaca Gun owned the name and could put it on anything they wanted to (as Savage did with the Fox Model B).

I have owned two through the years and never had any trouble with either of them. One was a long barreled 12 - full and fuller - best goose killer I ever owned. I sold it off because I could not shoot steel through it, with the non-tox choices now - I hope someone is still dragging that one through the swamps.

may be a tad heavy but if it fits you, you can have fun in the uplands, it it doesn't - that is one you should not feel bad adjusting it until it does

You cant go wrong with a 200.00 dollar shooter. Work with bit a little and you will be happy with it. All that realy matters is that it functions properly and it kills game.

I've not seen one with a beavertail forend like that, all I've seen had splinter forends, I have had 2, a 12 and 16 and ended up selling them both--should have kept the 16.--why do I do that?
I knew an old Wv. grouse huntr that used a 20, and loved his Eng setters. He gave me his hand made strap vest that will outlast me.
My advice--Buy the damn gun!!!

I had wondered about the foreend myself. I didn't know what they came with, but the color seems lighter than the buttstock and a beavertail seems kind of upscale for what apparently would have been a fairly inexpensive gun.

Wayne, I can tell the Parker Fever you recently contracted has turned into a full blown case of Double Barrel Mania. You see what the rest of your life is going to be like? You won't be able to stay out of gun shops, pawn shops, flea markets, auctions or websites. There are even reports coming in now that there is new strain affecting those of us who have this condition and it drives the sufferer to using yard sales to relieve the cravings. :eek: That "Lay Away" tactic only serves to make things worse :nono: I'll bet a round of drinks he can't leave that beautiful, gorgeous, hard shooting, much coveted Nitro in Lay Away til the end of the month :rotf:

Mike the problem is I have a Ruth Christs taste on a 7-11 hot dog budget. :)

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 Nitro Special was introduced in 12-, 16-, and 20-gauges. In 1926, a .410-bore version was added to the line. 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.

Ithaca built 16-gauge doubles were normally chambered for the 2 9/16 inch shells through 1933. The 1934 catalogues begin stating they are chambered for 2 3/4 inch shells. You gave the serial number as 2580x. I'm sure you meant 2580xx. Lefever Nitro Special serial numbers began at 100000.

The wood on that Lefever Nitro Special certainly isn't what it left Fall Creek Water Power Lot #6 with. A 1928 Lefever Nitro Special would look like this --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pecialgrip.jpg

About 1931, the Lefever Nitro Specials got a capped pistol grip stock --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...cappedgrip.jpg

Very late in production they gave the Nitro Special a more nicely profiled receiver, like this 1937 gun --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps70b33218.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps83968299.jpg

very nice ...i too like all of the old nitro express guns but then if its got a trigger i like it..always wanted me a long range single barrel 410 but just never followed through... charlie

I had not seen that later profile before -does add some looks to the gun

I sold a 16 ga nitro special that was near mint 2 years ago to a fellow club member. Practically had to give it away for $300. Doubles just don't sell much in this neighberhood.

Charlie,

I have both a Lefever SXS 410 and a Long Range Field and Trap single 410. They are both nice, but that single shot can really reach out there even though it only has a 2-1/2" chamber. If you get the chance to get one, get it as there weren't many made.

Jack Kuzepski

Ithaca's Harry E. Howland said of the Lefever Long Range Single-Barrel Field & Trap "I think it was the poorest gun I ever helped design, although we sold over 16,000 of them before we discontinued manufacturing them."

Dave,

I thought I saw in Walt's Ithaca book they made just under 25,000 of the single shots.

Jack Kuzepski

On page 103 Walter says "over 24,000 were produced". Harry's comment that I quoted above is on page 207.

I pretty much live at the gun shop anyway. Now I just have to go check out the double gun rack, as well as the used revolver cabinet. :)

And you win the bet, but it didn't last until the end of week. I don't know about "beautiful" but it does have what we on the revolver boards call "honest wear." Most of the blueing is gone, and it looks like someone tried to clean the patina off, but it just reminds me of a lot of guns the old timers used when I was a youngster. It's rough outside, but mechancially it seems sound, and the bores are bright.

A few pictures, a little better than the cell phone ones.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps5e354dfa.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps16fd6c95.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps52f61672.jpg

The wood really looks nice from this side.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps8148b7f2.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps64ee9377.jpg

It won't win a beauty contest, that's for sure, but who knows. Maybe it will become a project gun somewhere down the line.

Excellent! I'm sure everyone is happy you got the gun. I like the looks of it.

Lefever Nitro Special Choke Markings
 

Just acquired one 16 double with choke markings of 2 and 4 on the bottom of the Barrels. Nice appearing 1927 era gun. Might need to order spreader loads for this one but much lighter than my Parker.

My first double was my dad's 16 ga Nitro Special that he had V,L & A's in Chicago bore out to modified and improved cylinder. I was twelve when it turned up under the Christmas tree. :rotf: It has a lot of drop in the stock.
I've wound up with two twelves, that 16, a twenty and a .410 that needs a restock. :crying:

the lefever nitro express is a good gun for the money i compare it too a stevens double tough and dependable...this old gun will serve you well....charlie

I dont know what it is with people calling the Nitro Special a Nitro "Express". There are multiple sellers at any given time on GB listing these guns this way. The word "Express" is not on these guns anywhere. So i wonder where it comes from.
Maybe it is some ultra rare varient made by Remington.

"Nitro Express" was Remington's progressive burning powder load from its introduction in the 1920s --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psm02t7f2l.jpg

into the 1930s when they got Kleanbore priming --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psjmhl4w2x.jpg

and by the mid 1930s the one-piece boxes --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps2p0pib8o.jpg

When they switched to the red and green boxes it became the "Remington Express" loads --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psr3qzfo4m.jpg