Barrel loops and snap-on fore-ends

[Wenaha]

I have several small bore Fox guns. One 16 has the standard Anson-type latch. Another, a first year of production 16 'C' grade, has a snap on with a small barrel loop and the 'roller' in the fore-end metal. Another, a 1915 20 gauge, has a snap-on fore-end with a small 'roller' on the barrel loop. In short, the two guns with snap-on fore-ends each have a different design. I have not heard this discussed in any of my Fox reference material. What gives?

[bbman3]

Snap on forend graded smallbores are scarce.I had an XE 20 ga and an AE 16 both very early guns.A few later graded guns were ordered with snap on type.All sterlingworth smallbores were snap on I believe. Bobby

[Researcher]

The first doubles the A.H. Fox Gun Co. produced with snap-on/-off forearms were The Sterlingworth Co. 12-gauge guns which used a Baker J-Spring type forearm. On June 11, 1912, two patents were granted and assigned to the A.H. Fox Gun Co. for snap-on/-off forearms. Patent No. 1,029,229 (Application filed March 22, 1911) was granted to F.T. Russell. It had the fixed roller in the forearm iron and the spring-loaded plunger on the forearm loop (lower gun in picture). Patent No. 1,029,374 (Application filed December 23, 1910) was granted to J.C. Kremer & A.H. Fox. It had the spring-loaded roller in the forearm iron and a solid forearm loop (middle gun in the picture). The company was actually using these designs by late 1910 or early 1911, and even some The Sterlingworth Co. guns were retro-fitted with these later designs.



Originally the A.H. Fox Gun Co. used the Kremer & Fox patent forearm fasteners on extractor guns and the F.T. Russell patent forearm fasteners on ejector guns. In 1912 Parker Bros. introduced their Trojan Grade with a snap-on/-off forearm which used essentially the J.C. Kremer & A.H. Fox design. A couple of decades ago "Babe" DelGrego showed me some letters he had about this forearm business between Parker Bros. and A.H. Fox Gun Co. I don't know what the arrangement turned out to be, but A.H. Fox Gun Co. quit using the Kremer & Fox design and went to using the F.T. Russell design for both extractor and ejector guns.

[Wenaha]

Dave -- Many thanks for the clear explanation of the two types I have. My C grade 16 (no. 300004 - very early production) has the Kremer type with the spring in the forend. My 1915 A grade 20 (no. 200687) has the Russell design.
So I learned something that I hadn't known before. Thanks.

Interestingly. My custom AE grade 16 (no.300450) has the Anson type latch and was produced in 1915 also, I believe.

[Researcher]

These things are hit and miss. From my years of observation, CE-Grade 200002 and 200097 both have the Deeley lever forearm latch. I saw no evidence either of these guns were rebarreled. All the others early graded 20-gauges I've recorded from 200000 up to 200560 have Kremer & Fox or Russell snap-on/-off forearms. I haven't recorded an early graded 16-gauge with a Deeley forearm.