XE

[Lldub]

It's been a long long time since I've been on the forum; I went over to the dark side and have been heavily involved in NSCA shooting for quite some time. But I thought I'd post a few pictures of my restocked (in 1996) XE (the original forend was gone and the stock had been cut to an LOP for a 7th grader, apparently). I shot this gun in the 1997 Vintage Cup, and other events since that time. The barrels are 32" and came with .011 and .017 chokes, which I thought for my purpose to be about right. Serial number is in the 23,000 range.

[Fox20obsessed]

Beautiful XE! Nice!!!! What a great restock too with fantastic wood.
-Matt

[Stan Hillis]

Beautiful gun! Gorgeous restock. The quality of the walnut is right in line with the quality of the rest of the gun, IMO.

Great chokes for clays, doves, ducks, etc.

Good on you for bringing a wonderful Fox back from an unusable condition.

SRH

[Jeff S]

You are a lucky many to own such a beautiful gun. Enjoy!

[Double O]

Beautiful Gun!

[Foxnut]

Knockout wood!! Beautiful gun, great configuration!

[Lldub]

Thanks for the comments; they're appreciated. When I had the gun restocked, I thought about having the frame re-colored/cased. For about 5 minutes. What I especially like about this gun is that although the wood situation on it when received was abysmal, the frame had (mere) traces of colors and the engraving was still sharp, especially on the side panels. You can run your fingers lightly over the engraving and feel the sharpness of the edges. Whoever has owned the gun apparently didn't do a lot of carrying or handling on the frame. I decided I didn't want anyone to touch the frame, out of fear the engraving might be compromised somehow in the process. The last thing I would want is for some yahoo to polish it. McIntosh wrote how Cromex steel would shine like a new nickel under the case coloring...I can see what he meant. However, the trigger guard does have blue and engraving wear, which suggests it's spent a lot of time on shoulder carry. I've considered having the trigger guard restored, but decided that it's consistent with the gun otherwise and am leaving it all as is. I bought it under what I think market would have been at the time for a gun with original wood in good condition, at least from surveying others I found for sale. But it afforded me a good opportunity for my intent.... an occasional use target gun that I could baby and restock to my own requirements, instead of struggling with whatever dimensions I found on an original. When I had the stock made, I had the grip cut a little larger than factory, which always felt a little small in my hands. But at the same time I had them put in a small palm swell on the right hand side. It's hard to see in the picture I've added, but when I handed it to McIntosh at the 1997 Vintage Cup, he first gripped it and then his hand jumped off like it was stung. He bent over and took a close look at the grip, looked up, and just smiled. It was priceless.

[bbman3]

Superb!!! Bobby