Lefever shotgun serial

The Model 87 data came from the serial number records of the Ithaca Acquisition Corporation. LAPD Model Bicentennial Model. Centennial Models. Presentation Model. Trade Model. Ducks Unlimited Models. Auction Model. They are, indeed, rare. The pair first found fame with the production of. Lefever left Canandaigua sometime in for Auburn, NY. Here he began working on his breech loading suns. Very little is known of this period. It appears he was working alone. There are very few examples of guns from this period and production numbers are unknown.

Lefever joined with financier Francis Dangerfield to form Dangerfield and Lefever. This firm made breech loading guns both from scratch and by converting muzzle loaders. The firm ended after a fire in Again the number of guns produced is unknown. It appears most of them were conversions. They continued to make breech loading shotguns and continued converting muzzle loaders to breech loaders.

The quality of the guns continued to improve. It is not known how many guns were made in this partnership which lasted only two years. Lefever joined with machinist and financier John Nichols to form Nichols and Lefever. By this time Lefever had nearly perfected his hammer gun design and had, for the most part, abandoned muzzle loader conversions.

Early on they decided to Grade their guns and mark them as such to avoid retailers claiming that guns were graded higher than intended by the factory to increase the price.

Nichols and Lefever were very successful in marketing a superior shotgun design. They were rewarded for their efforts at the St. There are rumors perhaps stared by Uncle Dan himself that the award was for his side-cocking hammerless shotgun. However, newspaper reports of the time report no such hammerless gun at the time.

During this time there is evidence that Uncle Dan Lefever was working on a hammerless shotgun which did not infringe on the European patents of Ansen and Dealy. There were no functional differences between grades. Grading was assigned by the quality of the barrels and wood, along with the degree of engraving.

The total number of guns produced under Nichols and Lefever is estimated to be somewhat over 1, guns. After Uncle Dan left the partnership with John Nichols in he began work on development of a hammerless shotgun not dependent on European patents. His sidecocking hammerless shotgun was patented June 29, Lefever continued the custom of grading the guns, this time from AA to F.

While double shotguns were far and away the most popular configuration the sidecockers were available in double rifle and 3 barrels drillings as well. Rumors of an AA sidecocker exist, however, I have not been able to find one to photograph or documented photos of one.

One of the criticisms of hammerless guns was how was one to know when they were cocked. Uncle Dan Lefever solved this issue by including cocking indicators on all of his hammerless guns until the DS and I grades. The hammerless sidecocker is considered the first commercially successful American hammerless shotgun. A total of about of these guns were manufactured in the three years of production. Again production was halted due to a mysterious fire in the middle of the night in The sidecocker design was considered desirable enough that Charles Daly used the patent to produce clones of the Lefever sidecocker made by Prussian gunmaker H.

It is the only American shotgun described in W. The number produced is unknown with reports of up to four being produced according to Elliott.

The serial number s of two known are in the 23xxx range which would put them in the realm of The serial number of the shown gun is 24, However, the grade was not listed in a catalog until about Double rifles, drillings, and combination guns were offered by Lefever from very early in his career. He continues to contribute to the LACA newsletter. He is a Lefever collector and avid fan of using the Lefever guns to provide food for his family in Alaska.

Allen frequently writes for the LACA newsletter. Daryl Hallquist needs no introduction among collectors of double guns. He is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge on a wide scale to include American and European Double Guns. Daryl continues to make significant contributions to the LACA newsletter. He is an avid collector and hunter. He developed the current format of the newsletter and brought the publication to new standards.

In addition to collecting he is also an avid bird hunter. Bob is the great great grandson of Uncle Dan Lefever. In addition, he is responsible for the new LACA website and forum, which is unlike and more informative than any other classic double gun website. Buck Hamlin Buck Hamlin is a master gunsmith of over 40 years experience.