OK, I am a dummy, help

[quailguy]

Welll, I have had a Sterlingworth 12 Philly gun and a Savage 16 gauge gun for years. I have, due to the stock, mostly not shot them or fooled around with them. The 16 ga deluxe I have zero problems with. Sometimes I cannot get the forearm back on the 12 ga. Like now.

The gun is not cocked, the firing pins exposed and I cannot get the gun to cock nor can I put on the forearm. What am I doing wrong?? What do I do to get the forearm back on the gun ???

Thanks for the help,

Quailguy

[THE FOX]

Hey quailguy
If you've got the barrels off, you have probably taken them off before it was cocked. I'll bet if you will look down in the rectangular hole in the top of the water table, you will see two little levers that are all the way down . These are your cocking arms. You must take something like a big flat screwdriver , slide the tip down under both cocking arms, and gently pry them upward till you hear both hammers click. You should then be able to put the barrel back on and close the action. Your forend should then snap on. Remember, the forend must be on the action to cock the hammers as you break down your gun prior to barrel removal .Hope this helps.

Bryan Clary

[Silvers]

The hammers on a Fox will not cock if the forend isn't on the gun. Regarding not being able to get the forend on, does the serial number on the f/e iron match the gun? Second question, is the Sterlingworth an extractor gun, not an ejector? Assuming both answers are yes, I'd suggest checking to see if the cocking slide is stuck/rusty in its grooves. The projection at the back end of the f/e iron must move the slide fully backwards when the f/e is snapped on. If the slide doesn't move freely try using penetrating oil, wait a minute or so, and work the slide back and forth with your fingets until it's free. Last possiblity, if the cocking slide is already free I would say something is keeping the f/e iron catch from snapping on the barrel lug.

Here's an old pic showing side view . Cocking slide is the lowest piece shown in the pic. Silvers

[Jim C.]

I had the same exact problem with my newly acquired 12 ga with extractors. Monday I was playing with the new purchase when it happened. I eventually discovered that if I held the forearm in place as best I could and then broke the action as normal, it recocked the hammers. I still couldn't get the forearm to seat. An inspection of where it was binding led me to discover that the ejector spring-loaded bar in the forearm was fully extended and was not allowing proper seating. I pushed the bar back (forward) until it clicked and held in place. Problem solved. I'll probably get a "Yeah kid, we've known that little trick for a long time" . I didn't see this addressed in the previous answers, so thought I'd pipe up. Hope it helps someone. Jim...

[quailguy]

It appears that the problem is a very stubborn spring on the barrel hanger that will not depress to accept the forearm. It is much looser and works fine on the 16 ga deluxe. I can only budge the spring and attached clip with great difficulty on the 12.

Looks like some gunk may be in there that I cannot get out with Break free. The 'smith will probably make some bucks on this one.

Thanks,

[Jim C.]

I said it was an extractor gun.... Sorry, I meant EJECTOR gun....Jim...