Keith I think you asked for the opinion? 100% without wavering that is not an original piece.
I think supplementary ideas :
If it was right we wouldn’t have raised the question.
I think the paltry sum it brought hammers that point home.
In any case just to clarify. Re: the comb. I am certainly not suggesting it was raised. I am not even saying it is high. I am saying the loss of wood below changes the perception/ general
Lines and appearance.
Certainly it could be recheckered- and surely was if (WHEN) converted. Show me any original straight grip checkering on any maker that curves out on the bottom like that.
Yes Marks_21, I did ask for an opinion, and appreciate yours as much as the others. You are obviously 100% convinced that the one recently sold on Gunbroker is just another that has been altered from pistol or semi-pistol grip configuration, and do not believe that any other short tang gun you've seen is original either. Thanks for your opinion. At this point, the Jury is still considering evidence, and most of the witnesses have a differing opinion. BTW, I would say that the nose of the comb on that H Grade actually is higher than average, and that mere perception, caused by the possible removal of a pistol grip, has nothing to do with it.
Others, including myself, SKB, and KyJon have seen and/or owned Lefever guns with the short guard tang that appear original. GSPWillie has never seen one with the short tang. I know that KyJon has owned a number of Lefever guns, and having read every word he ever posted here about his Lefever guns, I know he is pretty knowledegable about them. He has also done enough restocking jobs to be able to recognize what is original wood, and what isn't. I also agree with his observation that the long tang variety is probably more common than short tang guns that at least appear to be original. I myself am not 100% sure about the one that recently sold on Gunbroker. It was a handy picture that I could quickly grab and post. I said I was curious, but I wasn't curious enough to bid over $500.00 on an H grade with other condition issues, just to get a closer look. Given the recoil pad, short LOP, and overall condition, I do not think the hammer price was "paltry", especially after adding in shipping, insurance, FFL transfer, etc. I've seen better Lefever guns that are more scarce sell for less, so the auction price of one gun proves very little. That 16 gauge automatic ejector I Grade I have was listed as a "Field Grade 12 Gauge Lefever" on a GunBroker Auction. It is in good condition, and may be more rare than a 1000 Dollar Grade, assuming it is indeed one of a kind. Do you know of any others? The auction pictures clearly showed the water table with the I Grade stamp, the presence of auto-ejectors, and the XX indicating it was a more desirable and more valuable small bore gun. Yet I paid about what the average DS non-ejector 12 Gauge in similar condition was selling for at that time. It sold cheap because none of the many people who look at GunBroker listings saw what I saw. I was very relieved as the auction ended, that no one else noticed that this was a very unusual and scarce I Grade.
Bob Noble apparently feels that long tang guns were built when Dan Lefever was in charge, and that the short tang variation is something that may have been done after the Durston's took over. I think he may be on to something there. He has probably studied and looked at as many Lefever guns as anyone alive, in his decades long quest to collect serial numbers and attempt to decipher some of the mysteries and questions we have due to the lack of any factory records. So I do give more weight to his opinions than many others who simply repeat everything that has been said and written about these guns.
And I absolutely believe that a lot of what has been written and repeated about Lefever guns is totally wrong, especially the nonsense that absolutely anything out of the ordinary must be attributed to Ithaca Gun Co. assembly. A lack of solid evidence or factory records can do that. And the same thing can happen when someone forcefully states an opinion as Gospel, and it gets repeated by others for years and years. Asking a question and getting as many replies as possible was my only motivation for starting this thread. My question was not simply about the originality of this one H Grade gun. My hope is that more Lefever owners would chime in with their observations in an attempt to shed light on another question about Lefever guns. So I am still hoping for more replies, and I might bring this Thread back to the top once in a while to continue trying to solve another mystery, to either confirm the status quo, or to debunk something that may be incorrect.
