doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Straight Grip Lefever Shotguns

A recent offering for a straight grip H Grade Lefever on Gunbroker is what prompted me to start this topic:

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/958263336

Straight grip Lefevers are not very common. I'd guess that less than one percent of the total production were built in that configuration. It is said that all of the Lefever shotguns that are original straight grip guns have a long straight trigger guard tang. Those tangs are much longer than the tang of the pistol grip or semi-pistol grip guns. But I have seen several that looked to be original, yet they had a short, straight trigger guard tang such as the one on this H Grade in the Gunbroker link above. Here are pics of both types of trigger guards. I thought about bidding on it, just to have the opportunity to look for a serial number stamped into the wood under the guard tang. I'm wondering if both are original, or if the shorter version has been altered.





I have seen a few that were obviously restocked, and simply had the original trigger guard bent to fit the new straight stock. I saw one that had a long tang that had apparently had material welded on to convert it to a long tang configuration. The weld job wasn't great, and it showed up in the bluing too. This particular H Grade has me stumped though. If the stock is not original, then whoever made it did a very good job of making it look correct. Even the flaws in the checkering of the buttstock and forend seem to match. The inletting seems right, and both pieces of wood seem to be very similar too, right down to the fiddleback grain. The nose of the comb did look a little high to me, and lacks fluting. But a lot of H grades did not have the flutes that are found on higher grade guns.

So what do the Lefever guys here think? And if you own a straight grip Lefever gun, does it have a long trigger guard tang? If not, does it appear to be original or restocked?