Sideplate Lefever Made by Ithaca?
Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 4:35 pmIthaca Gun Co. bought Lefever Arms Company of Syracuse, NY in 1916 and moved most of their machinery, parts and unfinished guns to the Ithaca plant. They continued to assemble and market the old style Lefever guns until about 1919. Later they made Ithaca designed guns such as the Nitro Special and sold them under the Lefever name.
Here is a Lefever H grade double gun in 20 gauge that I believe may have been assembled by Ithaca.
[img
][/img] I suspect it is an Ithaca made gun because (1) it has a high serial number so it is probably among the last of the old style Lefevers and (2) it has an 'Infallible Single Trigger' (note the barrel selector on the left side of the tang). As far as I know, Lefever did not offer this type of trigger on their Syracuse made guns. However, Ithaca offered it as an upgrade on their double barrel guns during the 1915-1916 period and possibly longer.
If anyone else out there has one of these old sideplate Lefevers that you think might have been made after Ithaca took over the Lefever Arms Company I'd like to hear about it! The total number of the old Lefevers made by Ithaca isn't known but it was probably only a few thousand.
Here is a Lefever H grade double gun in 20 gauge that I believe may have been assembled by Ithaca.
[img
][/img] I suspect it is an Ithaca made gun because (1) it has a high serial number so it is probably among the last of the old style Lefevers and (2) it has an 'Infallible Single Trigger' (note the barrel selector on the left side of the tang). As far as I know, Lefever did not offer this type of trigger on their Syracuse made guns. However, Ithaca offered it as an upgrade on their double barrel guns during the 1915-1916 period and possibly longer. If anyone else out there has one of these old sideplate Lefevers that you think might have been made after Ithaca took over the Lefever Arms Company I'd like to hear about it! The total number of the old Lefevers made by Ithaca isn't known but it was probably only a few thousand.