New Fox Owner/ Budget SP

[Leatherneck]

I know this is sacrilege but I’ve always been an Elsie fan. Never owned a boxlock sxs until last Saturday when this little Sterlingworth 16 kept screaming at me. I finally picked it up and found out why. Gun fits me like an old shirt. Anyway after a little back and forth I brought it home. Unloaded a box of no 8’s and found the best shooting 16 I own. With that said, I started doing a little research on the gun and found it to be an anomaly. I thought someone had blued over case colors on the frame and actually thought about taking the bluing off. After some more research I found that I had stumbled up on a very late flat sided SW. Not only a flat sided SW but what also appears to be an original SP frame made into an SW. I figured some of the researchers on here would appreciate seeing this gun. Anyway, any input is appreciated.

[Leatherneck]

A couple more pics.

[Researcher]

Yes, someone has blued over the receiver. The Fox-Sterlingworths built on the SP-frames were color case hardened when they left Utica.

132871

137963

376996

377050

377050 06.jpg (41.44 KiB) Viewed 6686 times

What I have recorded over the years are three batches in 12-gauge -- 30-inch barrels in the 1326xx to 1329xx range, 28-inch barrels in the 1379xx to 1380xx range & 26-inch barrels in the 1613xx range and one 16-gauge batch in the 3769xx to 3771xx range.

I'd like to have the serial number and barrel length of your gun to add to my list.

[Leatherneck]

Normally I would bow to the knowledge of an expert in the field but in this circumstance I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. I’ve seen enough early Winchester and other types of case colored receivers over the years to know what one would like like after 100 years of fading. There is what appears to be some cold blue on this frame. You probably can’t see it in the pics but there is a very hard almost black finish on the upper tang, lever, and the top of the frame. This finish isn’t a back yard job and appears to be the exact same as the SP’s. Also, the inside of the frame, water table, and forearm metal are the same hard black/blue finish as the original frame finish. I will post pics later today if you’d like.

[Leatherneck]

Pics

[Researcher]

You can believe whatever you want. What tells me it was blued at some later date is the fact that the engraving is not crisp, but has been buffed down prior to the bluing, the rounded edges on the trigger plate screw and that the sear and hammer axle pins are blued. Its serial number fall right within the range of the other known 16-gauge SP-framed Fox-Sterlingworths all of which had case colored receivers. Thank you for the information to add it to my list.

[fox-admin]

It's been buffed and blued in my opinion. I agree 100% with Researcher.

[Leatherneck]

You live you learn. It has 28” F&M btw. It is still a fine shooting and pointing little gun and I’m not in it deep.

[mobirdhunter]

A nice and unique Fox. Congratulations.

[Foxnut]

Curious to know does this little flat sided Sterly have a snap on or latch forend? Enjoy it!

[Researcher]

Curious to know does this little flat sided Sterly have a snap on or latch forend? Enjoy it!

Just look at the pictures above. It has the F.T. Russell snap-off/-on forearm. Fixed roller in the forearm iron.