Shooting the Family Guns.....

[MarketHunter]

No Parkers for me this past Sunday so I thought this would be the place for a report.

The day started at O Dark Thirty with a meet at "the barn" then off to the grain bins for a pigeon shoot. We had the decoys out by daylight and the birds started to fly about half an hour later.

It was hot and heavy, nice flocks coming in all the time. I couldn't seem to miss and everybody else was shooting well too. Two doubles for me and a lot of singles, I was shooting Dad's old Stevens 311 quail gun with Remington International Pigeon Loads. The eight gunners had 76 on the ground when the smoke cleared, a new record for our friend Mr. Russel's farm.

After that it was breakfast then a quick nap at the house and into the sunflower fields for doves. I took out Grandpa's little 20 gauge J.C. Higgins with the straight grip stock Dad put on for him in the early 60's. After the decoy pigeon shooting, the doves had me baffled for a bit. I finally managed to get in the groove and killed 10. We had a big crew of shooters and the final count was 180 amongst everybody, another record for the farm.

Good way to start the season to say the least. Dad was shooting well at doves and pigeons both. He left the Model 21 Winchester at home and tried his new Benelli Vinci. I forgave him that, he's over 70 so a lighter gun with slight recoil suits him better on a volume shooting day. He promised he'd have the Winchester out on the duck opener though!


DLH

[Bill Murphy]

Destry, I'm almost 70 and I've got at least twenty years before my brain gets soft enough to embarrass the doves by shooting a Benelli. I haven't shot my Grandfather's E Grade Lefever pigeon gun for about 40 years. I think I remember the day I quit shooting it. If what happened that day happens again, I will put away the gun I am shooting that day also.

[MarketHunter]

Dad likes old guns but he likes new ones too. Mr. Russel bought one and Dad got the bug, I ain't mad at him.

DLH

[chris dawe]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Destry, I'm almost 70 and I've got at least twenty years before my brain gets soft enough to embarrass the doves by shooting a Benelli. I haven't shot my Grandfather's E Grade Lefever pigeon gun for about 40 years. I think I remember the day I quit shooting it. If what happened that day happens again, I will put away the gun I am shooting that day also.

Thats a big mozza ball hanging out there Mr.Murphy...you have to tell the story now of how it hasn't been shot by you in 40 years

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Destry, I'm almost 70 and I've got at least twenty years before my brain gets soft enough to embarrass the doves by shooting a Benelli. I haven't shot my Grandfather's E Grade Lefever pigeon gun for about 40 years. I think I remember the day I quit shooting it. If what happened that day happens again, I will put away the gun I am shooting that day also.

My grandfather passed five years ago at the age of 91 . I've had his W&C 10 since his passing , I MAKE SURE I shoot it often whether it's skeet , trap , dove , deer whatever ! That gun will make good damned sure I never forget !

[MarketHunter]

I've told this story before but I like it so much I'll tell it again. Dad and Grandpa both had sawed off Stevens 311 shotguns for quail and doves, Dad a 12 and Grandpa a 20. Both had tenite stocks on them which they didn't like much. Dad bought roughed out blanks (just the head cut out) from Bishop or Herters and stocked them both in the early 60's but didn't do the forends.

When I turned 40 my father asked me what I wanted as a gift for this milestone. I told him I thought it was time to make a forend for his old Stevens, he'd given me the gun years before. He thought that was a fine idea and it only took him about a year to get around to it. Grandpa passed shortly afterwards (age 93) and his 20 gauge came down to me. I immediately handed it off to Dad for the same treatment. He got it done about a year later (Dad likes to take his time). Afterwards we took it to the local stocker / engraver and had a gold initial plate added to the forend with Grandfathers name and home town. It's probably the only straight grip Stevens 311 (marked JC Higgins) with a gold initial plate in captivity.


DLH

[Bill Murphy]

OK, Chris, here goes, but stop me if you've heard this before. When I was eleven or twelve, my Uncle sent me my Grandfather's Lefever, which had been in NYC purgatory since Granddad's death in 1929. My Uncle had not hunted for many years and lived in Brooklyn. It was my only gun at the time, so I immediatedly found that black powder and the other neccesities could be bought at the Rockville Trading Post. I had been told that the Lefever had "soft barrels" and couldn't be shot with modern shells. A friend of Dad's on Staten Island sent me a roll crimper and some primitive decappers and recappers. The wad seating tool was the other end of the decapper. I still have all those tools. I shot some clay birds with it, but didn't hunt with it much because PA pheasants were serious business in our family, no place for black powder and tissue paper wads. However, one day I was off with my Pointer, Ranger, for a day alone in the heavy brush of a McSherrystown farm within sight of the Bethlehem diggings and mean Angus cattle on one side and the Hanover Shoe Plant on the back. The third side of the farm had no end that I ever found, although it was not all owned by my host. I was carrying the Lefever.
The Lefever has a "pigeon safety" which has the SAFE engraved at the rear of the button, and the auto safety feature works just like on a regular auto safety except the safety is off whenever you open and close the gun, instead of on. You move the button back to fire the gun.
Now I never got a lot of chances for a double on cockbirds because we hunted the heavy stuff, not the corn, because of the dogs. You guessed it, that morning going through a creek bottom, the dog pointed, and without fanfare two cockbirds got up right in front of me and I almost bent the gun in half trying to push the safety forward and pull the front, then the rear, then the front triggers, while the birds disappeared. It was late into a long successful season, so opportunities were not plentiful, and that may have been about it for the morning. I believe that was about the last time I attempted to fire the Lefever.
Granddad bought the gun new in 1887 as much as I have heard. He was a successful businessman and 31 years old by that time, so I assume he didn't buy any used guns. It was probably built in the first year of pivot lever hammerless Lefevers. I know it isn't the first pivot lever gun, because the Lefever Collectors list one 562 numbers earlier as the first pivot lever Lefever made. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the "first one", listed by the LACA, is in my collection, not because I knew it was, but because I liked in and bought it years ago. Granddad's Lefever is a great gun with some ownership provenance, well cared for, so I should probably shoot it a bit.

[Double Lab]

Wonderful story Bill. You really have to shoot the ole' gal now that you outed the story. Don't feel bad as the safety flub has affected more than one upland hunter. Bring it to Prospect Hall for the next pigeon shoot. I'd love to lift it to my shoulder and feel what your granddad felt as he cheeked it.

[charlie cleveland]

that was a good one bill..yes you need to take the lefever out one more time.. restrey thats a fine storey on the dove hunt and sounds like grandpa s little jc higgins is still smoking them... charlie

[chris dawe]

Excellent ,thank you !