Several years ago I happened to meet a gentleman in Charlotte, NC who owned a 16-bore EE Lefever that had been passed down from his Grandfather, who had purchsed the gun new. The barrels were Damascus; and although the gun had been hunted often, it remained in very good condition save for the fact the its original splinter had been replaced with a really ugly beavertail. A most unusual/amazing thing about this gun was that it had a second set of 20-bore barrels (and I believe forend also; can't be sure?); so that the gun was a 16/20 two-gauge set. The 20-bore barrels were fluid steel and were extractor, as opposed to ejector; but fit the frame perfectly, and the owner even had the original wooden box in which the gun was shipped by rail from Lefever Arms Company. But the most interesting part of this story (to me anyway) was the original letter he had from Parker Brothers concerning this gun. Seems that the Lefever Arms Company had already been sold and closed; so this gentleman's grandfather, who wanted another barrel set, had sent the gun to Parker with his barrel request. Someone at Parker subsequently responded in type, and on Parker letterhead(which letter I recall was dated 1919) to this effect, although they appreciated his request and could certainly do the work; the cost to him, given that their tooling was not set up to produce Lefever barrels, would be prohibitive. They suggested that he send his gun and request instead to the Ithaca Gun Company, and assured him that the folks at Ithaca could meet his request. Obviously he took that advice, and whether he specified a set of 20-bore barrels; or if those 20-bore barrels were all Ithaca had on hand at the time, was not determined during my visit. I kept thinking I'd get Terry Allen to photo that unique gun, as it would make a great story; but for now this task remains one of those things I've always wanted to do and will likely never find the time.
