Is this old gun safe to shoot?

[sleeping dog]

I ran across a Lefever Nitro Special from Lefever Arms of Ithaca, NY. The serial is 229xxx. The two barrels are side-by-side and it has two triggers. It is in nice shape with most of the blue intact on the barrel and none of the blue intact on the receiver. Can this design handle modern ammunition?
Thanks

[sleeping dog]

oh, by the way, It's a 12 gauge.

[Steve B]

Do the barrels look like damascus steel? If so, don`t shoot modern loads through it!

[sleeping dog]

I don't know what Damascus steel looks like. This is just a black barrel (from the bluing) and the bore is just shiny. It looks very ordinary.

[adept]

what do you reccomend for for the demascus 12ga??

[Dave McC]

Any old shotgun(or other gun for that matter) should be checked out by a competent smith before any firing is done.

Loading and shooting w/o a check may qualify one for the Darwin Awards, and/or ruin a classic shotgun.

Even w/o Damascus/twist steel bbls, many old guns do not hold up well with modern ammo.

And, many old guns are chambered for short shells, like 2 1/2 12 gauges or the older 2 9/16" 16 ga. Putting a longer shell in one of these is tantamount to holding a grenade about 1 foot in front of your eyes and pulling the pin. Did you know that shotguns and grenades have about the same working pressure?

Lefevre shotguns,designed by "Uncle Dan" Lefevre,are one of the classics. If the smith checks out this one and OKs shooting it some, I'd stick to lighter loads like 1oz,3 dram, or 1 1/8 oz, 3 dram.

If it is Damascus, there are some lower power/pressure loads available, and also some 2 1/2 shells, but they don't come cheap.

[Dave McC]

Oh, yes, the forum that Harley Nolden runs here may have some folks who can tell you more about this classic.

[Al Thompson]

Hang on to your hats, off to Harley's we go!