Hunting dogs, fine firearms, and enjoying both.
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Jun 4th, 2013
The sixteen was never America’s favorite gauge Even though all our makers built 16s, the gauge that was most popular with us was the twelve. There’s a simple reason for this: versatility. Most American shooters were opportunistic. They shot everything from waterfowl to rabbits and upland game. A twelve could handle all this action. But [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Mar 5th, 2013
Of all the classic American shotgun makers, the Lefever Arms Co. made the fewest dobules. From 1880 to 1919, the company turned out around 65,000 side by sides. Of these, 20 gauge Lefevers are on of the hardest gauges to find, and nice 20 gauge Lefevers like this with original 28″ barrels are super hard [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Nov 23rd, 2012
Of the classic American side-by-side makers, the Lefever Arms Co. had one of the shortest runs. They were in business from just 1880-1919, and in that time they built around 65,000 shotguns. Most of these Lefevers were utility grades. So for a collector to see anything else today is a rare. That’s why this Lefever [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Jul 26th, 2012
Of all the major American shotgun makers, the Lefever Arms Co. turned out the fewest side-by-sides – right around 70,000 or so in all. The vast majority of these were 12 gauges, followed by 10. Lefever turned out far fewer double barrels in 16 & 20 gauge, and finally any of them today, in any [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on May 17th, 2012
Lefevers are my favorite American shotguns and E-grades are my favorite Lefevers. With 6 grades above it and 4 below it, the E was sort of Lefever’s middle-grade side by side. This E grade is a nice, clean example of a 12 gauge. The price – $2950 – is pretty fair, too. For comparison, here’s [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Feb 23rd, 2012
Good news for gun nuts: Julia’s spring firearms auction is March 12 & 13. Like always, they’re selling some nice double barrel shotguns. One of them is this Special Order Lefever. Judging by some of the peculiar Lefevers I’ve seen, customers could chinese-menu a shotgun from Uncle Dan, picking details from different grades, and creating unique [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Aug 19th, 2011
This a nice little G-grade Lefever 20g shotgun going off tomorrow at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, TX. The double barrel looks like it has a lot of original finish and color. In 20 gauge, and with 28″ barrels, it’s a hard gun to find. Too bad about all that drop in the stock, though. Unless [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Jul 20th, 2011
The Lefever Arms Co. turned out some of the nicest double barrel shotguns ever made in America. From 1880 to 1919 they made close to 70,000 side-by-sides. Of all these guns, 20 gauges like this one that was just on Gunbroker are the hardest to find. This 20 gauge is an E-grade–a middle-grade model for [...]
