doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lefever Repro

I own several (3) RBL's and an A-10. The A-10 is the better of the two guns and didn't cost much more money: $3,995.
If you can make and sell a sidelock O/U for this and make money, I see no reason not to be able to produce an affordable Lefever.
Andy, of Andy's Custom Shop, told me several years ago that he owned the rights to the Lefever name. I know that he has fallen off the planet, but wouldn't you need this before any project started?

Not to make a copy of a gun. Just to use the name. BTW, today, an A-10 is $8k. That, along with what you paid, may give some insight as to cost to manufacture. I suspect the $4k guns were close to cost to mfr.

Getting the name would be a good starting point for this project.
If the entry point for these guns is in the $5,000-7,000 range, the guns will sell.
The only company I know of that could handle something like this today is CSMC. I'm not sure they would be interested in such an undertaking. If they put in the custom class with the Model 21 and the Fox, I have no doubt that they could product a limited number at a profit. With their experience and know how, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.
Having said that, I have more SxS's than I know what to do with.
Still....

Unless Ithaca has some residual rights to a gun made under the Lefever name, I don't believe that would be a problem.I would find it hard to believe Andy W owns any rights to the name since he sold out The Lefever Arms Co. in Lee Center, NY. That facility is no longer under that name. In any case Andy is unlikely to come out of the woodwork as I understand the BATF is still looking for him.

No telling what Tony would be interested in. He has a passion for manufacturing fine guns that I could see in the hour I spent with him. I don't know if he produces anything at a profit. From what I saw, I just don't see how he makes any money after all his costs for facilities, equipment and labor. Maybe he doesn't need to.

Those who know Tony well, know that he could be in production with a Lefever in two months and make money at three grand. Unfortunately, only Tony knows what he will make next.

I don't know where he got his money, but it wasn't making guns. He seems to be spending tons but the incoming appears a trickle in comparison.

From my visit, I'd say his burden shop rate would be up around $100/hr. That's no amortization of engineering/development. That comes out to 30 hrs to make a $3k gun (his cost). If I'm wrong by $50/hr high ($50-75/hr is common for a small low overhead machineshop), that's 60 hrs to make a $3K gun (his cost).

Chuck, it's a little hard to make sense of your last post. You seem to be saying that the hours it takes to make a gun equals the cost per hour of shop overhead divided into the cost of the gun. That is a bit backward. He could be making guns in an hour and a half. How would you know?

Tony Galazan was LOSING MONEY on the A-10 @ $3995. It was a marketing strategy to ramp up interest at the introduction. Anyone who thinks CSMC could make a Syracuse Lefever for the same price as an RBL knows nothing about fine gun manufacturing, even with the high-tech equipment and processes that CSMC has. Their Fox Gun would be a better comparison for price.

The 37 people who would buy Lefever Repro would not make this a very good money maker either. What a joke.
JR

I don't think we have to get into how CSMC deals with production costs: direct, overhead , depreciation, amortization, etc. This isn't a cost accounting exercise.
We don't know whether CSMC has excess capacity to start a project like this (and change the accounting equation) to begin with. Is there really a demand sufficient to even think about bringing back a limited run of any old SxS?
I suppose you could make 10 a year, like the Parker, and sell them for $50,000.
Anyway, it's not going to happen.