I recently picked up a Lefever GE grade,1902 vintage. This is my first Lefever and now I see what others have been talking about. Just a great double. My problem is that it needs cleaning and I have learned, usually the hard way, that tearing into a vintage ejector double with nothing but screw drivers and inadequate knowledge can be a problem (read that as disaster). I have experience with both Parker and LC ejector guns and know that there are traps everywhere in the process if done wrong. Parker ejectors can be particularly vexing. Anyway, anyone have any pointers/cautions/sources of information? I have looked at the Lefever site and failed to find any specific information but I did not register and ask. Figured there has to be some Lefever guys here. Thanks, Jack
The hammer cocking shaft should have a single scribe mark on the right end. It takes a little force to assemble it with the scribe mark to the left. The reason I know this is, I bought a decent G Grade and discovered that it was reassembled incorrectly. It took some force to get it apart. I carefully stoned and polished the shafts and hammers to remove the damage. Good Luck!
When you take a Lefever apart, either an ejector or an extractor, it matters not if it is cocked or uncocked. By 1902 there were no parts except the socking indicator pins attached to the side plates. The side plates are covers for the lock work, not just "Falsies". Removing them exposes all the inner works which are attached to the frame rather than the plates. The parts in the gun occupy much the same positions of those in a bar action sidelock, just attached to the frame. The V mainspring lies in a cut in the frame bar just as on the bar action SL. On the in-frame ejectors which I feel sure this one has the upper leg of the spring fires the ejectors & the lower leg the hammers. I can't recall that I have ever run across an easier to work on hammerless double than the Lefever. With the exception of that cocking shaft Roundsworth mentioned there's not much you can actually put together wrong.
If you can manage disassembly of a Parker or a Smith, then a Lefever would not be any problem. They are pretty simple. The ejector guns have some extra bits more than the extractor guns. Bit it is all contained in the frame.
There is a lot of variation in the lefever action over the years. But by the Durston era, things stayed put and simplified a bit from the earlier variations.