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<  16ga. Guns  ~  20 gauge Lefever Nitro Special
bigblue
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 10:01 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2020
Posts: 181
Location: ont canada

20 gauge 28" im & f chokes case hardening vg excellent untouched checkered wood and metal condition tight lockup is this gun worth $800 Canadian funny money ? Still looking for a nice double hopefully this is the one. Thanks for any help Regards BB


Last edited by bigblue on Mon May 10, 2021 5:33 am; edited 1 time in total
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bigblue
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 1:12 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2020
Posts: 181
Location: ont canada

buyers for this gun mounted up fast . Made the move i hope i made the right decision ?Regards BB
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Researcher
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 5:50 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Jun 2009
Posts: 695
Location: WA/AK

Nitro Express was a Remington shotgun shell --



The Ithaca made Lefever double was the Nitro Special --



The Lefever Nitro Special is IMHO the best of the "entry level" American doubles.

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bigblue
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 6:00 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2020
Posts: 181
Location: ont canada

You are right it is nitro special getting old and excited I guess . Any added thoughts on this gun ? Will it handle 7/8 and 1 oz field loads ? gun is tight as a drum and the finish is excellent for a gun of this age . Looks like it spent most of it's life in the closet .
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fin2feather
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 6:19 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 2171
Location: Kansas High Plains

Sounds like you did just fine to me Very Happy ! Enjoy, and shoot the heck out of it!

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I feel a warm spot in my heart when I meet a man whiling away an afternoon...and stopping to chat with him, hear the sleek lines of his double gun whisper "Sixteen." - Gene Hill, Shotgunner's Notebook
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gunut
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 7:32 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Posts: 219
Location: Sussex Wisconsin

sounds like you did fine.....the nitro 16ga and 20ga handle nice ....the 12ga is a little bit ungainly.....but still OK if you need a 12ga..

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FallCreekFan
PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2021 5:03 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2019
Posts: 135
Location: Colorado

I’d have to reference it to an equivalent USD amount and at approx. $660 I’d agree. And based on the description I’d say you did well (which explains the strong interest from others).

Congratulations. You found (and better yet, got) what seems to be an excellent example of Ithaca’s classic working man’s double. You were fortunate. Enjoy it.
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Researcher
PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2021 9:17 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Jun 2009
Posts: 695
Location: WA/AK

You need to get The Double Gun Journal, Volume Thirty, Issue 1, for Walter Snyder's article on Ithaca Lefevers.

For me, I prefer the late Nitro Specials on the frame Walter calls "Type 3" --



Which have always appeared to me that they were using left over Lefever A Grade frames.

The early "long frame" Nitro Specials run pretty hefty --



The shorter "Type 2" frame runs lighter --



Up through 1928 the Nitro Special had a half-pistol grip stock. Beginning on the 1929 Lefever Arms Co. poster the Nitro Special is shown with a capped full pistol grip.

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bigblue
PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2021 10:14 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2020
Posts: 181
Location: ont canada

This one looks to be the short frame and has a capped full pistol grip. Thanks for all the info you guys have been great. Regards BB
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Brewster11
PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2021 7:46 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

Big blue
You have a nice plum, I’d say $900-1200 USD minimum as the shotgun market down here is white hot right now. Our LGSs are COMPLETELY cleaned out of classic shotguns and the racks are empty as we’ve never seen before. Shocking. Nothing, nada except for a few commodity pistols and unrecognizable Russo-Japanese war type scrap. We wouldn’t be surprised if prices doubled by years end.

Crazy things are happening. Why would a dozen unremarkable 16 ga repeaters with all manner of disfigurement (polychokes, Cutts, shortened stocks etc) that have gathered dust on LGS racks here for a dozen years suddenly disappear from the shelves in a couple months? I can’t figure out what’s going on. Anyone else seen this?

A clean sub-gauge Nitro Special should be golden. Don’t let it go cheap.

Good luck
B.
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Savage16
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2021 10:34 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 30 Nov 2011
Posts: 1694
Location: Minnesota

Ive got a 1936 Ithaca Long Range gun 20 ga safe queen that by my memory tips the scale at 6 1/4 pds with 26 inchers. How much does your nitro special weigh?

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bigblue
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2021 8:47 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2020
Posts: 181
Location: ont canada

6.4oz with 28" tubes maybe the short frame or my wood is lighter walnut nice color straight grain. Loading up some Federal unique #8 3/4 oz loads want to give me and the old wood a break hopefully should work well with the IM & F chokes . Any opinions or am I barking up the wrong tree?
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FallCreekFan
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2021 10:26 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 30 Sep 2019
Posts: 135
Location: Colorado

I shoot 3/4 oz low pressure loads in my LNS and have nothing but good things to say about them.
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Researcher
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2021 11:27 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Jun 2009
Posts: 695
Location: WA/AK

Quote:
should work well with the IM & F chokes .


Is it really choke marked 3 on the barrel flats for improved modified? Ithaca choke markings are --

4 = Full
3 = Improved Modified
2 = Modified
1 = Improved Cylinder
0 = Cylinder
S = Skeet

The only place I've seen the 3 choke marking is on some higher grade NID double trap guns.

None of the Ithaca Lefever Arms posters from 1929 thru 1941 mention improved modified choke for the Nitro Special. The choke statement is "Choke to suit you, either full choke, modified, improved cylinder, cylinder or we will select the choke generally used if you'll tell us what game you hunt."

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renaudnw
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2021 6:19 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 10 Feb 2011
Posts: 217
Location: Pacific Northwest

I have a 1928 Lefever Nitro Special (16ga, I/M, 28") which belonged to my Great Grandfather. It's the gun I learned to shoot with and I still shoot the occasional round of hand clays with it. No idea how many rounds it's fired or how many hours it's been carried through the fields. It's a pleasure to shoot and it's never failed on me in any way.

For the fifth generation I intend to break with tradition and give it to my daughter, but that's another story.

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