doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Advantages of a Lefever over a Smith?

John:

I'm guilty of buying watever is available at the ranges around here. I have recently found some more-reasonably priced 1-ounce Fiocchi stuff that would likely help, but the heavier guns are better suited for the targets I'm shooting (mostly with the Vintagers) anyway. This Arrieta has been my go-to pheasant gun for years now, and there's no sense in using it so callously. Game guns serve a different purpose for me.

Lloyd,
I’ve never seen your Spanish gun.

That said, the typical Yank double is getting very, very, old. My preference is toward guns that are less likely to need expensive gun smithing to keep running. That is not limited to American doubles, by the way-I owned a project single trigger Holland that taught me a few hard and expensive lessons when I wore a younger man’s clothes. I own a very old Darne Halifax, but have few worries about it needing any work, it is built like a tank, and the design frustrates Murphy, greatly, in my experience. Ask Dustin.
It is a sad truth that the great majority of either Lefever or ‘Smith guns I have encountered were far enough gone to need some expensive work to make them usable again. Gun projects can be a rewarding pastime, but, I’m over that, mostly, and besides, I have other bad habits as well.
Do you want to hunt and shoot, or employ very talented men to see to your guns? Did you get in to your Elsie Scott free, or, not so much? I get it, nobody here is clamoring for the All Weather versions of the Ruger Red Label, Remington 1100 or 870, but somewhere between those and a design that some of the gun smiths I think highly of simply don’t bother with today, is probably a better place to be.

Best of luck.

Gratuitous photo of a trouble free for life gun. I don’t own one.



Best,
Ted

Dewey Vicknair has it right

In fairness to Lefever most of his guns were made about 20 years before Smith's. Lefever was constantly evolving, where Smith came along late enough their guns were a mostly fully developed design. With the weakness we all know about. My Lefever just go bang every time. And I have had almost no repairs to any of my Lefevers. I have three Smith's which need a restock right now due to their design.

If you are in to that kind of thing, well, by all means.

Best,
Ted

Ted: It isn't just the Yank doubles that are getting old here, eh?

My "newest" British double is from 1905, my oldest perfectly-functional side-by-side (also British) is from 1866. A well-made gun is almost timeless if (a big if) it receives proper care and feeding over the years of its use (I almost typed "lifetime" here). We all get fooled from time-to-time but... if you've been paying attention over the years of your own life, you'll learn a few things about what to look for in an older gun. Contrary to some strongly-held opinions here, American doubleguns from the 1890s were actually very-well made. It wasn't until economic forces (from around the world, essentially) forced the American manufacturers (& that's all of them, not just Smith) to modify their production processes to reduce the cost of the human component. The big difference today between a "fine" gun and all the others (see the above photo of the trouble-fee gun) is that rather-essential "human element". That's were the artistic part of any gunmaker's creation comes from. As the old saw goes..."beauty comes from art, art come from grace and grace comes only from God."

Dan Lefever was a setter man. That's enough for me. I have 75 years with setters and 67 years with Lefevers.

Bill, every son born in the Hunter family was given a setter. Jim Hunter whose great-great-grandfather was James Hunter, one of the six brothers who ran Hunter Arms Co., was given a setter when he was born and he is now in his early 60's.

That was hilarious!!!

He’s over on the other shotgun forum still spewing his idiocy about his love for the best SxS ever devised.