Ithaca, Lefever Nitro special

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:27 pm
I have an opportunity to purchase a Lefever Nitro Special Shotgun made by Ithaca, that I cannot find any info about. It is a 16 Ga. double barrel shotgun, in the 121*** serial number range and has much better than average wood with a straight grip/English style stock and a beaver tail forearm. The gun has a single trigger and extractors. Their are two sets of barrels with the same serial numbers. One set is 28" long with a number 2 on one barrel and a number 4 on the other barrel. The second set of barrels are 26" long and both barrels have the letter "S" on the under side. I have found pictures of grade A skeet guns that look similar to this shotgun, but they have barrels engraved with Grade A and some line engraving on the receiver. This gun does not have Grade A on the barrels and has a Duck engraved on the receiver, and is not in the serial number range as the Grade A Skeet guns. Does anybody have any info or opinions about this shotgun or can tell me anything about it??
PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:57 am
Welcome to the Ithaca Owners Forum Todd !!

I'll leave your questions to the experts here...standby !
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:28 pm
I don't know alot of the Lefever models, but I'll be happy to share what I know. Well, the 4 is for full choke and the 2 is for modified bore. That is pretty typical for a field gun of that era.
It is obvious that both barrels were made for the gun by the factory, hence the matching serial numbers.
Their field guns typically had splinter forends while their skeet guns had the beavertail variant as standard. The single trigger was an option on the field guns, as were ejectors. They were standard for the skeet models.

It sounds like you have a very unique custom built two barrel set, combining features of the skeet model into the field receiver. Two barrels certainly warrant a price premium as does the beavertail forend and selective trigger.

Just my opinion, I hope somebody has more definitive information.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:07 pm
The gun is in good condition. I would rate the wood at 90% and the set of 28" barrels at 95% and the 26" barrels at 80%. Their is very little case colors left on the receiver and it has a black pad that says "decelerator". I don't know if the pad is original or not, but it fits perfectly and it does not look like the stock has been cut. You can tell that someone really took care of this old shotgun. Does $800 sound like a reasonable price for this gun?
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:04 pm
The pad is definitely not original, but considering the rest of the gun being what it is, you can easily enough replace it wit ha proper period buttplate.

I think $800 should be an excessive price for it. two barrel sets are rare ducks.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 1:09 pm
The grade of the wood is a lot higher than a typical field gun and looks to be the same grade as the later Lefever Grade A guns, but the receiver looks the same as other Ithaca/Lefever guns I have seen. What little info I have been able to find on the net, indicates the set of barrels with the "S" marked on the underside of the barrels, is for skeet. What would be a reasonable price to offer for this gun. I'll try to provide a photo, If I can figure out how to upload a photo to this site.
PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:52 pm
Try this free image hosting site Todd...

http://www.photobucket.com

Register...Upload any photo...edit / resize / store...download to any site you want !!
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:08 pm
Todd6228 wrote:The grade of the wood is a lot higher than a typical field gun and looks to be the same grade as the later Lefever Grade A guns, but the receiver looks the same as other Ithaca/Lefever guns I have seen. What little info I have been able to find on the net, indicates the set of barrels with the "S" marked on the underside of the barrels, is for skeet. What would be a reasonable price to offer for this gun. I'll try to provide a photo, If I can figure out how to upload a photo to this site.



Upgraded wood? Wow, you could probably add 25-50% to that $800 price. That is really an unusual duck you have there. Sounds really nice, too.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:17 pm
Tried to upload photo, but got a message saying file was too big. Any suggestions?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:00 pm
^^ Yea...see my post above ^^

With Photobucket...you can edit the picture(s) any way you want...including resizing them !

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:17 pm
Not the best photo but its the best I have. Like I said, it has higher quality wood and two sets of barrels with the same serial numbers. It also has a single trigger and a beaver tail forearm. One set of barrels is 28" long and the other set is 26" and has an "S" on each barrel. The serial number range puts it in the early 1920's. Does anybody have any opinions about this gun?
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 4:31 am
High grade checkering, beavertail forend fine grade wood. Add to that the two barrel set, with skeet barrels, single trigger. The only thing missing are ejectors. This had to be a special order. Shame you don't have a better picture because it is very nice.

No book I have shows anything resembling this although it does give price premiums for various options.
The base price for a mint condition Nitro Special is about $600. You can add $120 for the trigger, another $120 for the forend. I have no idea how much to add in for the upgraded wood and second barrel because no mention of wood, checkering or extra barrels are listed, but you could easily 20-30% for the wood and another 10-20% for the checkering. NO idea on the extra barrel, but at second glance $1200 is probably much too low. I'm thinking maybe $1800-$2000. Really unique guns are hard to price because there is nothing to compare it to. I would start at $2000 and go down from there. But don't be too much in a hurry to let anyone talk you down. The guy buying it will no doubt want to trade it for box tops. Then again if you get two people who want it badly enough and it can go even higher.

I wonder if the new factory would still have a build record of this.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 8:34 am
Thanks Jim. I'm not looking to sell. I am interested in buying it. The price is $800 and is part of an estate.
PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 10:30 am
Probably a good buy at $800...
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:55 pm
Well, Considering a plain jane Nitro special in the same condition would set you back $800, I would scoop it up and as soon as you can. It is really worth more than that.

Good luck Mon ami, let us know how you make out.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:12 pm
I bought it, and will get some better photos uploaded soon.
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:29 pm
Good deal Todd...!!
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:09 pm
Good luck with it! I think you got a steal.
--Jim

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