Robert & all;
The screw ahead of the lever on these early Lefevers is a compensating screw for bolt wear. These guns have a vertical bolt which enter the rib extensiom from the rear. It sort of floats in there, but the top bears aganist the bottom of that screw. If the gun doesn't bolt up tight simply turn that screw down a bit till it does. As Rich mentioned the lever is not latched open but the bolt is cammed back by the lower surface of the Doll's hear as the bbls are closed. The lever stopped dead center when it was new & it'll stop dead center as long as it lives. The lever has a side pivot rather than center. It was replaced by the center pivot lever fitted with a side swinging self compensating wedge bolt around 1890 (patent for this action was issued 1890, but don't know the exact introduction date of the new model. This new bolting system did latch open.
That last letter did look like an H to me. If you look real close the center bar is horizontal, not V'd up as in an M.
PS; Note lso this gun has the hammer axle extending through the side plates, a feature not seen on most self cocking Lefevers. I have a G grade sn'd 20,633 which also has this feature. My bbls have the crown oer GL mark though.
Last edited by 2-piper; 08/24/12 04:50 PM. Reason: added info
