26" & 32" Sterlingworth "pin" guns

[bamboozler]

I have seen 28" and 30" Sterlingworth pin guns, but never 26" or 32", do they exist?

[eightbore]

A friend had a high condition 32" Sterlingworth pin gun and claims he "lost" it at a gun show in Maryland. Does anyone know where that gun may be? My friend is ready to prosecute the new "owner" if he can find him. It was one nice gun, came out of Michigan. If it wasn't refinished, it is missing a bet. Really nice.

[Researcher]

I have one rightious 26-inch "Pin-Gun" recorded. A friend had a The Sterlingworth Co. gun that lettered as being a "Trap" 32-inch, but currantly sported 30-inch barrels?!? In the days of the "Pin Guns" the 32-inch barrels were $2 extra.

[waterman]

I think one of our members has a 26" pin gun that he has posted some pic of. Maybe he will post some more. I don't want to say any names..

[jolly bill]

Bam,

Back in July I started a thread on a 12 gauge Sterlingworth Model 1911 Pin gun with 26" barrels that Waterman refers to. I could post the link to that thread but it was in the Members Section and probably would not be able to be viewed by everyone.

So I will attempt to copy the gist of it here for anyone that would be interested.

"I received my Fox factory letter from John Callahan confirming what I thought was a correct gun: a 12 gauge Sterlingworth model 1911 Pin gun, serial number 57979, with 26 inch IC and Mod barrels called the BRUSH model. Ordinarily you might be a little suspicious of an older 26 inch barrel 12 gauge double. You start looking for the hacksaw marks.

Had the gun with me 2 years ago at the NE SXS Classic at Hausmann’s in PA and there, the Fox Boys with their instruments were able to measure bore diameter, choke constriction and choke length. A little unusual though in that the right barrel is Modified and the left barrel is Improved Cylinder. This is contrary to most doubles that are choked more typical – right/IC and left/Mod.

Interesting that the gun was shipped on October 24th, 1911, exactly 25 years before yours truly was born. I have had the gun for 36 years and it sees occasional use on the skeet and sporting clays field.

As you can see from the pictures, this near 100 year old gun is a nice clean original Sterlingworth with modest finish remaining and put together like all those early Philadelphia Fox’s.

[bamboozler]

Thank you for taking the time to post the reply Jolly Bill, your's is the first Brush model pin gun that I've now seen--it has got to be a pretty scarce gun. (I apparently missed your Initial post regarding this gun in the Members Forum). This leads me to another question: your gun is stamped Model 1911, what differentiates Model 1911's from other Sterlingworth pin guns?

[jolly bill]

Bam,

I don't have a good answer to your question: "what differentiates Model 1911's from other Sterlingworth pin guns?"

Researcher, Dave Noreen, may have the answer. And I think I recall an excellent feature Tom Kidd wrote in the Double Gun Journal on the pin guns but wouldn't know where to look for that.

I am/was of the opinion that all pin guns made by Fox beginning with serial number 50001 were stamped "MODEL 1911" on the fore end iron. And if that's the case, a pin gun is a Model 1911. At what point that marking was dropped, I don't have an answer but maybe when they quit making the exposed hinge pin guns.

Maybe Dave or Tom could help us out here.

Jolly

[billspeer]

My Sterlingworth is S/N 53893 and it lacks the Model 1911 on the forend, or anywhere else.

Bill Speer

[bamboozler]

billspeer, I assume your Sterlingworth with S/N 53893 is a pin gun. My pin gun, S/N 61039 also lacks the "Model 1911" stamping, Jolly Bill's Model 1911 falls between our two guns. hmmmm

[loggy]

Jolly,
It appears from your post that the chokes are reversed from what the mfg. may have intended. Perhaps that is the case in some of the other guns where the chokes are reversed. Maybe the barrels were upside down at the time they were finished? I can see why you have held onto a very nice gun. I hope to see you again in Vegas. John

[jolly bill]

Loggy/John,

It is possible that the Fox factory unintentionally reversed the chokes on the gun. (It's also possible that Mr. Callahan got them wrong when he did the letter.) I have had some collectors say some of the old shooters preferred the chokes that way.

I occasionally shoot some skeet and find that choke combination convenient at station #1, 2, 6 and 7 where your first shot is the going away bird from the house your next to and the next shot will be from the furthest house and by then is pretty close to you. I often miss them anyway but it seems to make sense. However, those clay pigeons usually break when they hit the ground tho.

Yes, I will be in Vegas again this year and looking forward to it and look to see you there. Also many of the other Fox boys too.

Jolly

[Researcher]

From my table of observed "pin guns", from 50000 into the 53000 range are The Sterlingworth Co. guns. In the 53000 serial number range I have a mix of the last of The Sterlingworth Co. guns and the first guns marked "MODEL 1911" on the forearm iron and A.H. Fox Gun Co. on the left barrel. From the 54000 through the 60000 range all the guns I've recorded have "MODEL 1911" on the forearm iron. The "pin guns" I've recorded in the 61000 and 62000 range are not marked "MODEL 1911". There was that period of time in 1911 and 12 when the company literature referred to the Sterlingworth as the "MODEL 1911" and I've seen a handful of graded 12--gauges of that era marked "MODEL 1910" but I don't own one or even have a picture of the marking. The first A.H. Fox Gun Co. smallbore brochure refers to them as the "MODEL 1912" but I've never seen a smallbore so marked. I think this MODEL marking may have been an idea that came in the last days of Ansley at the helm and was dropped when the Godshalks took control.

[bamboozler]

Thanks for the reply Researcher. Do you have any 32" pin guns recorded?

So, to us, the only difference between a Sterlingworth Model 1911 pin gun and a Sterlingworth pin gun is the "Model 1911" stamping in the forend iron; but to those working in the A.H. Fox factory, back in the day, they were all Model 1911's, eh?