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

Hi All;
I have posted about this gun in the past but it has a feature not sure I have mentioned previously. It is an FE SN 38,025.

It is as I have previously stated stamped with both an F & E on both barrels & frame. It has 30" Chain Damascus barrels. The feature I don't recall having mentioned is it has nickel plated triggers & cocking indicators. Plated triggers etc have often been stated to have begun with E grade with higher grades having Gold plated ones. It does not have the sear adjustment screws, though I have two earlier G grades which do. One is a Two-Hook gun in the 20,xxx range & the other a large hook gun in the 29,xxx range. The earlier one is adjustable from the outside while on the later one the side plates have to be removed to make the adjustment.

I am the second owner of this gun, having bought it at a store about 20 miles from my home where it was on consignment. This was the First Real Lefever I had ever seen at that point (1968). I had seen the Nitro Specials not a LAC gun.

Sad part is I was so elated at finding it & at a reasonable price (Damascus was Out of Favor) that I did not make any effort to contact the older Gentleman who had bought it new. I likely could have got more info on it if I had done so.

Miller I don�t think that is uncommon on the f grade. Although this FE is coincidentally very close to that serial range. I believe I have the same in 25 and 48 k range but don�t have pics at the ready.

Mark;
Personally I believe some false statements have been made concerning Lefevers by folks who were not that versed on them from applying things from later catalogs to all years of production. A circa 1913 catalog (reprint) states that trigger pull can be adjusted on guns of E or higher grade. As stated I have 2 G's with this feature. This catalog also notes that a D grade has nickel plated triggers & indicators while C through Optimus are listed as having them Gold plated. No plating is listed for E or lower grades. Obviously some of these features changed over the years as evidenced by these known examples of F grade guns with the nickel plated triggers & indicators. .

I note from your picture your FE does not have the trigger pull adjustment. I do not know at what point this was dropped from guns below the E grade. What is the engraving on your right plate? Mine has a quail on the left plate & a duck on the right one. Both are in flight over an appropriate type of landscape. I see F's which have a duck which has been shot & is falling, but mine is in flight.

One thing for certain the Lefevers are extremely interesting guns.

Miller I once owned an FE 16 and EE 20 and neither one had sear adjustment screws or the two GEs I still have. Bobby

If you have them or not, they are useless either way.

I believe the G grade was not introduced until introduction of the Two-Hook models. Apparently until this time frame the trigger adjusting screws were put on all grades. At some point they were dropped on all grades below the E.

As to their usefulness I guess it all depends on whether are not one has the ability to use them properly, personally I have no problem with them. You just don't want to set them so light as to be dangerous. Don't know how many times I see someone mention having paid Big money to have their trigger pulls adjusted, all I have to do is twist a screw driver on these with adjustments. Unfortunately they are not on the ones I use the most.