Ithaca Lefever Nitro Special Shotgun

Swing and a Miss

In value, the Nitro Special definitely rides the coattails of the “famous” Lefever shotguns. While the Ithaca Lefever guns have a reputation as being very reliable and well-made, they are a working man’s shotgun and not especially valuable. Currently, the average 20-gauge in decent shape will bring approximately $350 while 12-gauge models average around $100 more. If you happen to run across a .410 model in good condition, those are relatively rare and often bring upwards of $1000.

The difficulty comes when uninformed buyers or sellers attempt to value the gun. I’ve seen Nitro Specials offered for sale online for several thousand dollars. This tells you one thing for sure: The seller doesn’t know the difference between a Nitro Special and one of the earlier Lefever Arms Co. sidelocks.

I can’t laugh too loudly — until I dug deeper, I was one of those people.

Regardless, I now know the Lefever Nitro Special is a good-quality firearm, but it doesn’t cloud your judgment with a high collector value. Knowing this liberates me to start a careful home-brew restoration to keep my heirloom looking good for the next owner, whoever it might be.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll do a nice enough job they’ll get momentarily disappointed, too! It’s the least I can do …

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