??? FOX STERLINGWORTH PROTOTYPE ??? PIC HEAVY

[Silvers]

Some of you have seen the recent posting on doublegunshop by ACGG member Craig Libhart, regarding an unidentified side by side shotgun that has more than a casual resemblance to a Fox. The pics posted by Craig show a top bolting system with a Greener type crossbolt. This gun's single trigger has been identified as an early Infallible that was marketed circa 1912 by the Lancaster Arms Co of Lancaster, PA. Many opinions have been advanced on this gun but there hasn't been agreement on what it is.










Craig had asked me to look at this gun and I had an opportunity on Thursday of this week. My plan was to measure and compare its frame and barrel assembly with the same parts from two early AH Fox A Grade guns. Here are some pics I took while at Craig's shop.

Unknown frame ass'y on top, stripped A grade Fox frame on the bottom


Side view: frame panel comparison, note placement and center to center on the sear and hammer axle holes


View of simplified "cocking latch"



I was excited at what I saw. I am thinking this may be an Experimental or Prototype Fox gun, and I’ll call it “EP” in the text that follows. EP’s frame is dimensionally identical to a Fox frame in most respects but it incorporates many changes in its mechanism that seem like they were made to reduce manufacturing cost while maintaining reliability. Its barrel assembly is pure Fox with the exception of a simplified hammer cocking mechanism. The quality of machining makes me think the EP gun was made in a well-equipped toolroom, and perhaps it was designed and put together at the AH Fox Gun Company Phila plant. The following data supports this theory:

• Comparative measurements with a vernier show that the EP gun uses a regular 12 gauge Fox frame forging but with rounded frame panels like the Philadelphia Arms Co guns.
• Dimensions across the fences (breech balls) and across the barrel breeches of the EP are normal for 12 gauge Fox guns.
• The EP frame is not milled out for the regular Fox rotary bolt, and thus it was especially machined for (and only for) its Greener type crossbolt.
• The A Grade Fox trigger plate fits the milled out recess in the EP gun frame.
• The center-to-center distance of the sear and hammer axle holes is exactly the same on the EP gun as the Fox frames. Also, the axle set screw holes and the tapped hole for the original trigger sear spring are located identically.
• The Fox barrel fits the hinge pin and the cocking recess in the EP frame
• The cross hole in the EP barrel extension shows it was drilled and reamed into virgin steel, there is no evidence of a regular Fox bolt locking slot that may have been filled and reworked
• The A Grade fore-end knuckle exactly matches the radius on the EP frame
• The EP hammers have “tails” and they cock the same as regular Fox guns
• The EP hammers have “firing tips” same as regular Fox hammers, and their coil mainsprings use the same connecting rod and follower system as on Fox guns
• The EP fore-end latch is very similar to the patented Fox & Kremer type latch with the spring loaded roller in the fore-end iron and a simple tab on the barrel lug. This mechanism does not require the precise hand fitting of the Deeley type latch on Fox graded guns
• EP barrel lump/underlug uses a much simpler rotating “cocking latch” instead of the regular Fox cocking slide. The Fox cocking slide requires extensive milling and broaching, whereas the “cocking latch” only needs two drilled holes in the barrel lump
• The Greener type cross bolt on the EP is much easier to machine, all it requires is line boring and reaming – as compared with a precisely located counterbore for the Fox rotary bolt. Hand fitting of the lockup would be greatly simplified.
• The EP lever spindle uses a simple machine screw to keep it from lifting, versus a threaded collar with set screws on the conventional Fox design
• Trip pin on the EP is a simple keyed pin to engage a milled slot the Greener bolt, as compared with multiple milled surfaces and cam on the regular Fox trip pin
• I believe this EP gun was originally made with conventional double triggers, and the coil springs in the trigger sears were added later by the Infallible folks when they did the single trigger. Apparently the regular trigger sear spring screw head doesn’t provide enough clearance for the Infallible mechanism. Reference to the pics will show the screw head has been cut off rather crudely in comparison with the otherwise excellent machining inside the EP frame.

Fox trigger plate fits in EP frame cutout


EP barrel fit in Fox frame


Fox & Kremer style fore-end latch


Fit of Fox fore-end on EP frame


View of Infallible trigger mechanism



To sum up, this unknown EP gun was definitely made on a raw AH Fox frame forging but with many manufacturing simplifications - which could and would create a less expensive variant of the regular Fox graded guns.

Was this experimental/prototype gun made by Fox? That seems likely to me but that's just my opinion with no proof whatsoever. We know the early 1900’s market had forced Ansley and his bean counters to create a less expensive and more competitive model than his graded guns, and that led to the intro of the Sterlingworth.

Of course that leads to more questions: if this EP gun was made by Fox when was it made and why did the company launch the Sterlingworth model with regular Fox lockwork and features, instead of making something like this EP gun? Also, how did this gun find it’s way out of a toolroom?

Well in any case this is a unique gun that is essentially a Fox but one that I believe could be made more cheaply if put into production. I was and am excited to have had the opportunity to look it over and report on it here. I hope the readers enjoy it!

Frank Silvers

[MARSHFELLOW]

Nice job Frank. Very interesting indeed. It good that a fellow with the technical/mechanical background that you have had a chance to look it all over the way that you did. Had I fallen over it I wouldnt have had the same aptitude as yourself.

tjw

[bbman3]

Frank, thanks for info and posting the pictures.Maybe it was the other way around and this gun was turned into the later Fox! Just kidding ! Bobby

[fullchoke16]

Thanks for the report and great pics Frank. I agree that the workmanship looks to be from the tool room boys doing some R&D work. Ansley Fox was not above using another guys design if it suited his purpose. He just made it prettier. In the steel mill machine shop, the best work is always done on Govt. jobs and most come from the senior men in the tool room. Those jobs always make it home for what ever their use may be. I don't see why a gun plant would be any different back in the pre-gun restriction days. Fred

[eightbore]

Thanks, Frank, for all of your research on this interesting gun. Craig went to the right guy. My earlier statement that this gun could be a prototype for the Fox gun that Remington was contemplating purchasing for the "Parker Reintroduction" probably has no merit for the following reasons. The Infallible trigger was obviously not installed, in my opinion, after the Lancaster Trigger Company ceased to exist. A Miller trigger or Fox Kautsky trigger would be a better choice. The Remington project was late thirties and early forties and I assume that Lancaster was out of business by that time. Although I have Remington memos pertaining to the Fox purchase, supplied to me by Dick Baldwin, those memos contained no information or pictures that would identify the exact gun that Remington wished to purchase. The assumption is that Remington did not plan to purchase a Fox that could be easily identified as a Fox by Parker purchasers. The Fox purchase was a dead issue when the Parker Reintroduction was not approved at Remington.

[waterman]

Thanks Frank for the pic and clearing it up when I first seen the gun I had no idea what it was. Looked somewhat like a Fox but had a cross bolt like a D.M.