I disagree LetFly. You probably recall that it was me that guided you to the method to remove your barrels. I never stated exactly why the cocking hook sometimes gets caught on the pin in the barrel lump, preventing removal, because I wanted Marks_21 to explain it to us. I'm still waiting for his explanation. It isn't because of wear in the keyway.

I have been a pretty dedicated Lefever collector and student of these guns since I bought my first one around 1988. I am still learning and finding things I didn't know, and that is compounded by the fact that Dan Lefever and his sons were always tinkering with the design. There are subtle and obvious variations, which can complicate matters when you are attempting to replace a worn out or broken part.

One thing I can say with absolute certainty is that both of the Elliot books are very informative. But the author was a collector, and not a gunsmith, and there are several things stated that are wrong. There has been a lot of new information discovered over time that you will not find in his books. I can't think of any gun that has had so much misinformation repeated about them than Syracuse Lefevers. Guns from that era were not made with boringly repetitive CNC precision, and there was hand fitting involved, even though they were considered to be machine made guns that involved the use of jigs and fixtures. I have seen quite a few of these cocking axles installed in the guns, and the hash mark is ALWAYS on the right. Miller has stated the same thing. If it had no significance, other than perhaps being an inspectors mark, one would think that we would see a roughly 50-50 random orientation. But we don't, and there is evidence that putting them in backwards may affect the ability to cock the hammers.

I do agree that the keyway in your cocking hook is distorted through wear or abuse. It is plausible, I suppose, that there was sufficient debris in that slot to permit cocking with the original cocking axle. Dewey Vicknair brought up some valid points to consider in order to make a repair that works properly, and lasts another 100 years.

Last edited by keith; 03/22/20 05:04 PM. Reason: Damn auto-correct changed CNC to fake news CNN
A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.