Fox Collectors

I sincerely appreciate your sentiments FRBRIT, but my old Philly Foxes still shut like a bank vault and have nice, uncracked wood. These are not collector grade guns, merely old field grade Sterlingworths that are well cared for and used as intended. I have other shotguns to hunt waterfowl, but pref...

I have fired countless standard length shells through both my 20, 16 ans 12 GA Sterlingworth guns, without any adverse effects on the guns. High brass loads are often used for grouse, pheasant, and bandtail pigeons, but most of my shooting involves local doves and quail. For those, low brass federal...

If the chambers of Philadelphios fox guns are so short, why do 2 3/4" shells drop right is and function operfectly. There is no ragged end on the fired shells to indicate shorter chambers. All spent shells eject smoothly and show no signs of any problems. What gives?

I must admit that due to ignorance I have been shooting standard 2 3/4" shells in both my mid-1910s Philly Fox 20 and 16 Ga guns for many years. Honestly, before joining this group I had never heard of short chambers on American made guns. I have toyed with the idea of lengthening the chambers ...

I have been shooting my 16 GA Sterlingworth for years, but didn't find out until joining this group that it had 2 9/16th" chambers. I have always shot standard and magnum 2 3/4" shells through it with no ill effects. I am now having this and my Philly 20 GA gun's chambers lengthened to 2 3...

All three are Philly guns, but I haven't yet determined the chamber lengths. I ordered a 12, 16, and 20 GA chamber guage from Brownells, and if the chambers are "short" I will have them reamed to today's 2 3/4" length. I have no intention of purchasing those very spendy shorter shells.

Yikes, $1500 for pheasant?! I don't shoot them very often, but there a lots of them around here. I prefer blue grouse and mountain quail over most other upland hunting. It gets me up into the high country on lovely fall days.

No, I have not, but certainly will. I have always shot 2 3/4" shells from this gun with no detectable problems. I really had no idea of short chambers.

The 16 has 28" tubes, while the 12 and 20 sport 26". I shoot all modern shells, except magnum loads and steel shot. Those guns were purchased to use and I have never had any problems with current ammunition.

These are field guns in good condition that get hunted a lot. I own no "safe queens", including my antique Winchesters. If it can't be hunted, I have little use for it. At top is the 12 GA, followed by 16 and 20 .

No, I just went with what was originally loaded, chilled #5s. Figgered that a few shots on my personal fields wouldn't hurt. We use lead on pheasants out there all the time.

I got an uopened case of those shells a while back for $6 per box. I just wanted to give the old shells a try and they fired perfectly. They are 2 9/16", but the gun has 2 3/4" chambers and was manufactured in 1916.

Here are the results of an afternoon hunt on our ranch late last month. The gun is a 16 Ga Sterlingworth and the shells are vintage WWII. Both performed as manufactured. These birds, a Pintail and a pair of Widgeon, took 5 shells to score, but the misses were mine. :) http://i2.photobucket.com/album...

I have been shooting regular 2 3/4" field and HV shells in my 1910s Foxs for over 30 yrs and haven't noticed any problems. I just found this group today and noticed that normal, off the shelf ammo is not recommended for these "early" guns. Good thing I found that out before my guns we...