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

What Dustin said. People forget there was a Great Depression, and when unemployment was near 50%, that nice, fat, bunny or brace of squirrels might have been more important then timed screws.
I've seen charts that say the depression lasted 2 1/2 years, but, people who were there tell me it impacted them until the war. Almost a decade, and that is a long time to end up poor. My Dad was a teenager during the war, and had lots of good jobs, but, people forget when all the troops came home it was like the depression was back all over again. My Dad joined the marines in 1947-he needed a job.
Nobody in Frogtown, where my Dad was raised, shopped at Griffen and Howe, or, Abercrombie and Fitch.
That era was not conducive to good gun maintenance. Po' folk got po' ways.

Best,
Ted

I understand the need to fix it to get by in hard times. Wire, tape, metal straps have all been used for stock repairs to get by with. I saw a Crescent which had a replacement firing pin which I suspect started out life as a 16 penny nail. A fix but a crude one. Sometimes it is a rats nest when you get inside these old guns.

But too many things get fixed wrong just because the fixer did not know what he was doing. Think about what he did. He bent the end of the sear thinking it would set the hammer faster since the cocking rod was not bringing the hammer back fully. When that did not work he took a file and shortened the leg of the sear which engages the hammer thinking I guess it was too long now. I doubt the gun ever fired after his repair. The cocking rod was clearly worn down. Bending the end of the sear did not make it work at all. Both repairs in the end made it worse, not better.

Not a "fix" problem but the most common screwed up item on all used guns has to be the recoil pad. At least 1/2 of all recoil pads do not fit the stock. The recoil pad does not match the stock lines. They take a dog leg. But recoil pads can be easily fixed. Internal parts not often as easily.

I suppose there is a time and place, and sometimes even an excuse for bubble-gum and baling-wire repairs to guns and machinery. But I think the majority of these so-called fixes are the result of ignorance and a lack of skill. It takes more than good screwdrivers to remove and replace a screw without doing damage. And repairing guns is a lot more than knowing lefty-loosey... righty-tighty.

I have never believed that you can teach things like mechanical aptitude or the artistic ability of a good engraver, or the skill and finesse of a neurosurgeon. You are either born with the innate ability and desire to do those things well, or not. When it comes to fixing things or building things, all men are not created equal. Having worked with hundreds of various skilled tradesmen, I can say with complete confidence that some of the hardest workers with the best tools did more harm than good. There is no Great Depression going on right now. But somewhere... right now... someone is screwing up a gun.

What I see daily in my work is things completely not understood & messed with by incompetents who know it all.
Diagnosis is the main problem.
Seem to have no idea that it is a chain of events & that when that chain is broken it is only one link. Not the whole chain.
So every link gets a tap & a bend until we arrive at what Jon said.
When facing these repair situations & I point out to the customer what we are now up against they invariably ask, "why would anybody do that ?"

The answer arrived at after many years of this is always the same.
Cheap & easy, stupid & lazy.
And as my bride says. "Not interested in excuses, only results.
Jon's gun is a poor result.

Would you acept those excuses & poor results if you were sick with something bad & went to see a doctor.
O.M

As my Uncle Bob LeFever said when gazing at a bushel basket filled with about 6 Lefever shotguns in parts in his gun shop "Repaired beyond repair".

The price is double if the owner worked on it first.

Without home fixes, who would stuffed shirts look down upon to build themselves up? Can't have them going around hollering at traffic, might get hit by a car.

Yes, there are some real arrogant stuffed shirts around here. How utterly intolerant and unreasonable of them to suggest that baling wire, gobs of JB Weld gray epoxy, and stove bolts are inappropriate methods of fixing broken guns.