Lefever Arms upland gun - first outing

[Cold Spring]

While at the Northeast SxS I saw a gent coming down the tent aisle with what looked to be a short-barreled Lefever double gun in a push carriage. A small note in one muzzle showed it was for sale. I asked and got a really good, almost unbelievably low price and of course I was skeptical, that the barrels were cut or it had serious issues. It checked out as an H Grade/12-gauge in upland configuration with 26-inch tubes each with a choke taper out to the muzzle. Keels were in place with the tubes touching and the fancy scallop cut was intact on the rib. Chokes: 14 and 32 points. I'm told that original 26 inch Lefevers are quite rare; this one has twist steel barrels with nice bright bores, no dents, barrels ring clearly, no wood cracks etc. Ivory bead front sight. Needless to say I scarfed the gun. The Lefever Collectors were across from me in the tent and after inspection their comments were: "buy of the show" and did I want to make a quick profit.

Today was the first I was able to shoot her. I only had 65 shells loaded (PB powder/1 ounce of 7-1/2's at about 1170 speed) and I shot the woods course at Rock Mtn that some of you are familiar with. Also did 3 stations on the main course. I didn't look at the view birds, just at the menu flight paths on the station show boards and had at it with the clicker set for following pairs. The old Lefever pointed and shot like a dream with score 61 ex 65.

How I love these honest old upland guns. This one a 12-bore weighing would you believe a tad under 6-10 on my digital scale, with 2-3/4" drop and 13-7/8" LOP. Someone knew what s/he wanted when the gun was ordered in 1904. Right now I'd match her against anything on a woodsy clays course, and of course grouse season will be here in a few months but meanwhile I'm not giving the summer away.

Thought I'd share this story with my friends.

frank

[Dean Romig]

Holy WOW! What a great little grouse gun!






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[Sara LeFever]

Awesome find, Frank! Glad she shot well!

Sara

[B. Dudley]

By the photo, i would think barrels to be shorter than 26”.

[J.B. Books]

Congrats Frank. Will you be pattern testing this gun? You may find that .014 barrel shoots tighter than you think. Please share the results if you do.

[StubTwist]

Original short barreled Lefevers are indeed a rare find. Congrats Frank on your new acquisition and sharing photos with us. Looks like a really nice and well cared for Lefever.

[Cold Spring]

Thanks everyone. Brian, the barrels are indeed 26" on the nose; the cell camera effect does make them look shorter in that pic. Pete, yes I will pattern test with my regular shotcup handloads and also with bare shot/Alcan fiber wads in paper hulls. I'll be doing extensive patterning for something else when I get time and will work in this Lefever and report then.

[Cold Spring]

Pete, I saw your post on the Lefever forum and thought you and others might be interested in the profile of that right barrel choke. It starts a slow taper at 4" aft of the muzzle with 4 thou diameter reduction in the first two inches of run, then 4 thou in the next inch, and 6 thou in the last inch out to the muzzle. Total constriction is 14 points. That's with my Baker bore mike.

Some of this Lefever bore and choke technology still seems to be mysterious and that's why I'm particularly interested.

frank

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Frank Srebro

Pete, I saw your post on the Lefever forum and thought you and others might be interested in the profile of that right barrel choke. It starts a slow taper at 4" aft of the muzzle with 4 thou in the first two inches of run, then 4 thou in the next inch, and 6 thou in the last inch out to the muzzle. Total constriction is 14 points. That's with my Stan Baker bore mike.

Some of this Lefever bore and choke technology still seems to be mysterious and that's why I'm particularly interested.

frank

As I understand the process a reamer that gives a tapered choke of .040 in four inches would produce a choke of .020 in two inches and .010 in 1 inch etc. It would seem to me a very small amount of constriction will have a very short amount of taper. The 10ga I just got has .018 in the left and the taper is about 3.5 to 4 inches long to the muzzle and the right barrel with .003 which is continuous to the muzzle is very short, 1/2" or so. Barrels are not cut. It patterned very well and I was surprised .003 delivered 53% at 40 yards and .018 delivered 85%. It's not a lot of constriction for a 10. That's why I think you may be surprised by the pattern your .014 constriction shoots.

[Dean Romig]

Depends if you are using a choke reamer or an adjustable cutter.





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