Top of barrels marked ‘LeFever Nitro Special’ and ‘LeFever Arms Co.,Ithaca,N.Y.” There’s no telling how many squirrels I bagged with it. I used this scattergun to make my first kill: An armadillo. The checkering is basic, just like everything else about the gun. Looking at photos of other Nitro Specials, the checkering was simply decorative and the diamonds were never pointed. I asked my father about the different look of the checkering, and he said that he’d used a pocket knife to “freshen up” the well-worn checkering before he knew any better, but had stopped before he got very far. Hand-cut checkering is different on each side. Since the gun was made around 1924, it had ample opportunity to become well-worn even before Dad got hold of it. During long hours walking and sitting in the Florida woods, I got to know every mark on this old shotgun. The butt plate offers more testimony to this gun’s hard life, with chips missing from both top and bottom. A large chip has been missing from the butt plate for longer than I’ve been alive. I have no idea what caused the deep gouge in the left side of the stock wrist, but it looked really old the first time I saw it, lo those many years ago.
I toted it for many a mile and I’m sure I gave it my share of wear & tear, but someone before me had put many more miles on it than I ever did, even wearing away the engraving from the steel receiver - and erasing every trace of the case coloring that used to adorn the receiver’s surface. My first forays into the woods in search of game were taken with this very shotgun clutched in my bony little hands. That gouge in the stock appeared ancient 40+ years ago when I first saw this gun. This old scattergun has the same engraved scene on both sides, mostly worn away. It was a LeFever Nitro Special, essentially a mass-produced shotgun of good quality. His mama made him give one to his brother, so naturally Dad kept the double. Somewhere around young adulthood, my father became enamored of firearms and laid claim to them both there was a single-shot and a double barrel. They had to be cheap, because there was never much money to go around. The story goes that my father’s father managed to get hold of a couple old 410 shotguns for cheap. In my case, the first firearm I could call my own was a side-by-side 410 shotgun, which I first carried in the woods nigh on 40 years ago. What was your first gun? Chances are, it’s the one that made the biggest impression on you, but it may not be the first one you fired. My first gun, a LeFever Nitro Special, has a lot of miles on it. Unfortunately, all of the businesses that Dan Lefever started failed due to financial mismanagement.My First Gun Was This LeFever Nitro Special. Lefever's contributions to firearms technology are still used today in the construction of breech-loading shotguns and rifles. In 1878, he invented the hammerless shotgun.
When the Ithaca Gun Company purchased the Lefever Arms Company, there were enough parts left over to continue manufacturing Lefever firearms until 1920.ĭaniel Myron Lefever was a pioneer in the technology behind breech-loading firearms. In 1916, the Lefever Arms Company was sold to the Ithaca Gun Company of Ithaca, New York. DM Lefever & Sons closed its doors for good in 1906 after Daniel Myron Lefever's death. This time he opened up DM Lefever & Sons and produced breech-loading shotguns. He decided to leave Lefever Arms Company and began another business venture, continuing to make firearms. In 1901, Dan Lefever was demoted to the shop superintendent of the company he had formed. 410 bore sizes, and Lefever shotguns were a favorite among trap shooters. Lefever offered shotguns in 12-gauge, 16-gauge, 20-gauge, and. Lefever shotguns were known as the first automatic breech-loading firearms. The Lefever Arms Company specialized in building high quality, breech-loading, hammerless shotguns. Daniel Lefever was a pioneer in breech-loading firearms, and his designs remain popular even today.
During the years that led up to the Lefever Arms Company's establishment, he had formed several other companies that all fell on hard financial times. Daniel Myron Lefever was said to be one of the greatest firearms designers of his time but a poor businessman.
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