2-piper, Cross sectional wise I think Lefevers have a lot more metal in them. The Tobin is a bad design I think. If you had a Tobin in hand you would wonder what the designer was thinking. Dont know if its more a manufacturer problem with too much metal being removed for ease of making the gun or if that much metal was always intended to be removed. Either way a weak design that me.
There have been a lot of questionable designs over the years. Im picking up early pump guns like Spencer, Marlin, Winchester, Union Fire Arms, Remington and seeing what changes were made to correct early design problems and what changes were made to get around existing patents. External hammers, internal hammers, hammerless-strikers, all got a trial. Some lasted decades and some fail quickly. Pumpgun design was done in 25 years or so total. Perhaps 20 designs produced, only to have five or six last decades and be 95% of total production. Just like obscure pump gun designs Tobins ended up on the failed design side of the ledger. Not everything is a perfect as a Winchester Model 12.
