Mark Larson,
6,683 is definitely an interesting serial number, both for the cocking type, and the name on the plates. That era was typified by sidecockers, and most of them are "D.M. Lefever," with a handful of examples which say LAC but were clearly produced out of sequence.
Yours being both LAC and a rod cocker is pretty unique. And a straight grip, to boot!
Nice find.
- NDG
That is true, except I doubt if this one started out with an original straight grip stock. Judging by the shape of the sideplates, it seems very possible that this was a prototype gun where Dan Lefever utilized a frame forging and sideplates left-over from his Barber and Lefever partnership. This could well be one of the first rod cockers, and there is a good chance it was worked on by Dan himself. Nice find indeed, and something to think about going forward with any restoration work.
Personally, I think the term "out of sequence" is often a misnomer with Lefevers. We really have no idea what the normal practice was for stamping a frame with a serial number. If a prototype frame was held back for construction, or being used by one of the Lefever family or an employee for testing and evaluation, then it probably wasn't really out of sequence at all. The number of subtle and not so subtle variations over the years suggest this was a fairly common occurrence. These myriad changes often make things challenging when you are attempting to find original spare parts for a Lefever. This constant tinkering with the design carried over into the later crossbolt Lefevers as well.
The term is certainly over-used and misused with the insanely large number of guns that are attributed to post-1916 assembly by Ithaca.
Several years ago, Bob Noble had 6 Thumb Push Opener guns in 16 ga. on his serial number list. He might be interested in hearing about this one.
