I recently picked up a mid 1880's Lefever 12 gauge side by side at an area pawn shop. I would like to restore the gun as much as possible and shot on occasion with low pressure shot shells. These are the things I know:

Stock, nice wood and grain, checkering worn but nice, several hairline cracks in pistol grip and missing butt plate.

Receiver is in excellent condition, nice limited engraving (Grade E) but it has been blued. I don't know when or why.

Barrel appears to have been shortened to 26 inches. The barrel is Damascus steel, it has been blued, some slight rust on the barrel.

Forearm is missing the front metal part...don't know what it is called.

All numbers match, I hope to reasonably get the gun as close to original as is safely possible. Any recommendations on where to start? My thoughts are to remove the bluing from the receiver and the barrel to start with? Suggestions and advice appreciated.

Thanks!

From one Snyder to another---cut your loses now. You have a wall hanger--any money you put into it is money down the black hole. Cut barrels kills it. JMHO.

Thanks Walter! I should probably clean it up. I don't have any illusions of a high value gun, just want to clean it up. Would you drop the barrel and receiver in a vinegar bath to remove the blue?

You've gotten good advice that it's never going to be a collector's item with the cut barrels. However, it would not be a bad first project if you have the time and interst. At a minimum you could use oil and fine steel wool to de-rust the barrels. If you get ambitious try bringing back the damascus pattern per instructions on this site. De-oil the wood, epoxy the cracks, the list goes on and could keep you out of trouble for quite a spell:).

Thanks Judge!

Have fun. Get the gun checked out if you decide to shoot it.

Fgsnyder,
Don't know anything about your background or experience with double guns, but you need to be careful here. The gun you describe does not sound like a good candidate for "restoration".

First of all, you yourself are not going to be capable of improving the gun because you aren't set up to do the necessary repairs and refinishing to the wood and metal. Any amateur attempt at a project such as this results in something that looks worse, not better. And you certainly do not want to send it to a real professional for the work due to the prohibitive cost vs the gun's value.

Take an aspirin and let this pass.
JR

Didn't mean to scare everybody...
JR

The silence was just the solemn group headshake in agreement...

"Projects" are over-rated.


Best,
Ted

Amen!

You can try the vinegar soak, but it depends on if the barrels were either rust or cold blued. If rust blued, you might be able to bring out the figure, with no promises on how they will actually look like afterwards.

Degrease the tubes, give them a minute vinegar soak to start, then rinse them well with water, and scrub them down with a paste made of baking soda using a small brush, like one for fingernails. Repeat if necessary. Again, no promises. Good luck.

Ken

If the barrels were rust blued, i would use some circuit board etch solution (usually approx 41% ferric chloride) diluted an additional ratio of at least 6:1 with water. Dip the entire barrel in the solution for 10 secs, place it under running water (on a soft surface), scrub with 00 or finer steel wool. The blue should come off of the steel ribbons and remain on the iron ribbons.

I wish you good luck. I had disastrous results with inexperience and ferric chloride. Mind you inexperience played a significant role.

When using ferric chloride, it helps to have a glass of John Jameson standing by.

That's a croc. It helps anytime.

Well, There is that....

Ferric Chloride is reallly aggressive. When attempting a clean-up it can be very tricky. In my opinion, milder white vinegar is better, and doing it a few times if necessary is safer. After any acid process the baking soda is a good idea. Afterwards, towel the tubes and then (if you have a compressor) blow any remaining water off. The tubes will flash rust, if happy with the pattern polish with oil and 0000 steel wool, if not, polish with degreased steel wool before an additional etch.

Thanks guys, I've started with disassembly and will be removing the blue from the receiver and soaking the stock to remove the oil for stock repair. Thanks for the info and advice. If I can figure how to, I'll post before and after pics.

Have you established that the barrels are cut? If exactly 26" I would look closer. If an odd measurement its likely they were cut.

The first step that I would take is to shoot this LeFever and see if both barrels shoot to the same point of impact at 16 yards or 18 yards......If the barrels shoot to the same point of impact then you will be justified in proceeding with a limited or full restoration......I would be taking this old LeFever to a patterning board with a lot of cardboard targets made up so as to be ready to do some testing.....Jent

Major thing here: any pitting in the barrels?
JR

No pitting. Thanks!

Okay, stock scrubbed and drying. Awaiting an A and A bath this week time permitting. Receiver basically torn down. Blue has been removed from the side plate. Pic shows receiver still blued with side plate. Hope to remove remaining receiver blue in the next few weeks, then clean and oil. It's remarkable the quality of mill work on this 130 year old gun!

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Just my two cents but i would take it easy on those side plates ...from that picture it looks like you still have some of the case colors intact .

Sorry I posted the wrong pic...