Model B 20 Ga. Date of manufacture

[scubafc]

I am probably covering old ground here, but I can't find an answer. I have a 20 ga. double barrel with "Utica" on the barrel. As I understand it,that places it between 1940 and 1946. It has a serial number (looks like B39599) which should put it pre-WWII? Can anyone narrow it down any more? Thanks. I apologize if the answer is somewhere else.

[fullchoke16]

Because of Savage war production, I'd guess at 46.

[Researcher]

The Model B is not truly a Fox at all, rather it's a model 311 tarted up with a vent rib and ejectors, and usually a beavertail forend.

Nope!! Opportunity here for a history lesson. There was no such thing as a Model 311 when the Fox Model B was introduced, first appearing in the 1940 Fox catalogue. The original Fox Model B used the internal parts of the J. Stevens Arms Co. No. 530 (aka the 5100 action) in a bit nicer profiled and decorated receiver. J. Stevens Arms Co. did produce a gun called the Springfield No. 311 at that time, but it was built on the old G.S. Lewis Patent coil-spring driven striker action, as had been the J. Stevens No. 330 and their Riverside, later Springfield, No. 315. Circa 1940 when Savage Arms Corp. was introducing the Fox Model B, J. Stevens Arms Co. introduced the Stevens No. 530-M with the Tenite stock and forearm --



As Savage Arms Corp. consolidated their firearms manufacturing at the old J. Stevens factories at Chicopee Falls, Mass. after WW-II, the gun which had been the Stevens No. 530-M, became the Springfield No. 311 in the 1947 Savage/Stevens/Fox/Springfield catalogue --



Then in the 1948 Savage/Stevens/Fox catalogue it became the Stevens Model 311 --



By 1951 the Tenite stock and forearm was gone and the Stevens Model 311 with a wood stock that most folks know came into existence.



Back to the OP's question. From what I understand there are no surviving records, so 1940 to 1946 is as good as you are going to get for a Model B with a Utica barrel address

[terc]

Thanks for the lesson Researcher, you never cease to amaze me.
terc

[Mike of the Mountain]

Researcher needs to compile a book on all things Fox. I'd hate to see all his knowledge lost at some point in time.

[Fin2Feather]

There's a world of difference between a B grade and a Model B.
The Model B is not truly a Fox at all, rather it's a model 311 tarted up with a vent rib and ejectors, and usually a beavertail forend.

Notice he did ask about a Model B, not a B grade. And not all model B's had a vent rib, ejectors, or a beaver tail.