Thanks for all the replies......The flames are welcome too; it's cold up here in Minnesota.
I'll try to answer some of the posts. The gun has never been messed with. Has about 75% original finish; never been reblued, hot or cold. Was a closet queen for at least forty years, according to the old aunt who sold it to my gun dealer. Her husband bought it new to hunt with and hunted with it. He had quite a few guns, and treated them well. My shooting buddy has a grade 3 NID with lots of rare non grade 3 options. The toplevers are virtually identical in size, and configuration. His top lever is just fine. Mine is dead soft....And I mean real soft. When it works it's way to the left after a round of trap, it is real easy to bend back. Nobody's slamming the gun shut any harder than we close the Supers, or the Citoris or the Franchis or any of the other trap guns we see at the local range. We aren't bending the toplevers on the Brownings.....We aren't separating the barrels on the old Flues we sometimes shoot, or the Lefever Nitro Special one of us shoots from time to time. The guy with the $16,000 dollar Kolar that lines up with us, shuts his more firmly than we do. That was the point of my post.... NIDs are just another old shotgun. Not particularly strong. Not too durable. Not crafted too well. But to hear some of the hardcore NID aficionados talk; they are bulletproof!
Flash!!!!! I talked to Gunter Pfrommer today. He will repair the NID without demanding my first born as recompence. Says he has worked on more than a few where some of the parts, (including the top lever,) somehow missed the heatreating process. Going to box the old girl up, and send her out first thing Monday morning..... I'll post again with the results of the repairs, the cost, and etc.
'Spose when we get the old gun back, we'll limit it's useage to the occasional pheasant, or a few informal hand-thrown clays and such........ My 26 year-old is now shooting one of Dad's Broadway Traps....... He ain't broke 25 straight with it yet. Again, thanks for all the replies.... Grant.
