I recently purchased a pretty decent 1899 Lefever SxS Double-Barrel 12 ga. Shotgun for my collection. The barrels are Damascus and after a gunsmith's inspection, they were stated to be in good condition to shoot, as long as they were low pressure/low charge, 2 1/2" shelled rounds with a small shot payload. The bore walls are in pretty good condition too, with only slight pitting in some random spots throughout it's length.
This is a "numbers matching" gun, where are the serial numbers and gun grade letter matched the parts as I disassembled them, as verified by the factory stampings on each major part. The action is tight when closed, there is minimal wear on the breech face where the barrel closes into it and this particular model is equipped with automatic shell ejectors.
This gun is in pretty good condition overall, but it's got approx. 112 years of dirt, grime and scum build up on it that needs to be cleaned up before it's put back into use.
I've never owned a gun this old before and I wouldn't have purchased it if I didn't see a diamond in the rough that I could restore back to new or at least bring back to good working condition AND one I could shoot from time to time.
All of my guns I own are "shooters", as I don't want, nor am I interested in, a wall hanger or safe queen that only gets taken out to be gawked at and coonfingered to death... If I'm going to have an antique gun of any kind, it MUST be able to be shot...and shot safely.
I've already got the gun disassembled and it's ready for cleaning. I don't plan to anything "trick" to this gun while it's apart- only give it a thorough cleaning, a re-oiling with high quality gun oil and wash/treat the timbers with some oil soap to clean them up to nice condition. I'm leaving the century-old petina intact, as to not take away from the nostalgic look of the gun, which in my opinion, makes it pretty cool to own!
Here is where I am thus far:
This is a "numbers matching" gun, where are the serial numbers and gun grade letter matched the parts as I disassembled them, as verified by the factory stampings on each major part. The action is tight when closed, there is minimal wear on the breech face where the barrel closes into it and this particular model is equipped with automatic shell ejectors.
This gun is in pretty good condition overall, but it's got approx. 112 years of dirt, grime and scum build up on it that needs to be cleaned up before it's put back into use.
I've never owned a gun this old before and I wouldn't have purchased it if I didn't see a diamond in the rough that I could restore back to new or at least bring back to good working condition AND one I could shoot from time to time.
All of my guns I own are "shooters", as I don't want, nor am I interested in, a wall hanger or safe queen that only gets taken out to be gawked at and coonfingered to death... If I'm going to have an antique gun of any kind, it MUST be able to be shot...and shot safely.
I've already got the gun disassembled and it's ready for cleaning. I don't plan to anything "trick" to this gun while it's apart- only give it a thorough cleaning, a re-oiling with high quality gun oil and wash/treat the timbers with some oil soap to clean them up to nice condition. I'm leaving the century-old petina intact, as to not take away from the nostalgic look of the gun, which in my opinion, makes it pretty cool to own!
Here is where I am thus far:
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