Drawbolt Sterlingworth on GunBroker

[Jack71]

Drawbolt Sterlingworths are supposed to be rare, but I've seen several for sale over the past 12 months (For more info on these guns, see Frank Srebro's article in the Winter 2014 Double Gun Journal). There is one for sale on GunBroker (serial #143437) with a low starting price, but the LOP is only 13 3/8", so I'm not interested. The seller also thinks the barrels may have been cut, they measure 27 15/16". While I don't know if it is true of Sterlingworths, some double gun barrels can very slightly from the standard lengths of 26, 28, 30, etc.

[Researcher]

I have found the drawbolt Fox-Sterlingworths in three serial number blocks. Those in the 133xxx range are 30-inch, those in the 143xxx range mostly 28-inch with a couple of 30-inch and those in the 161xxx range are 26-inch. I'd think 27 15/16-inch is close enough to 28-inch for Savage work. Just looking at the pictures the LoP looks a lot longer than the stated 13 3/8-inch.

[Jack71]

Now there is another drawbolt Sterlingworth for sale on GunBroker, this one is #143641. 28" barrels. The head of the stock is cracked and that's a dealbreaker for me.

I also saw #133897 for sale yesterday at the Richmond, VA gun show. Also a drawbolt gun, but I thought the price was too high for its condition.

My point in this post is I have heard estimates that less than 200 of these guns were made by Savage, but I keep seeing them offered for sale. While there is no way to know the actual number manufactured, I suspect it is larger than 200.

[Researcher]

The serial number spreads I've recorded would indicate there could well be a couple thousand.

[Sporrns]

My tendency would be to go with Researcher's number(s) - I wonder how many people have picked them up and examined them at guns show without ever knowing what they were before AHFCA documentation, McIntosh's book, etc. As I recall there was one for sale recently at the NE SxS at Hidden Hollow in early June. Kevin

[Researcher]

In Frank's great draw-bolt article in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Twenty-Five, Issue 4, it states on page 135 and 137, that a review was done of production cards from 132454 to 133924. Of the 1471 frame numbers the 1468 surviving cards all but 133814 are Sterlingworth TRAP cards but the TRAP is crossed out and the cards are stamped 30. 133814 is a BRUSH card with the BRUSH crossed out and 30 inscribed. Frank states "But the Drawbolts are random along with regular Sterlys and a few flat-sides in that range, and they can't be identified and counted." My observations don't support that. All the thirteen guns I've recorded from 132649 to 132927 are flat-sides and the eleven guns I've recorded from 133022 to 133897 are all Drawbolts. The guns I've recorded in the 1324xx and 1325xx range are regular frame Fox-Sterlingworths.

[MARSHFELLOW]

Jack,
PM sent

[Silvers]

In Frank's great draw-bolt article in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Twenty-Five, Issue 4, it states on page 135 and 137, that a review was done of production cards from 132454 to 133924. Of the 1471 frame numbers the 1468 surviving cards all but 133814 are Sterlingworth TRAP cards but the TRAP is crossed out and the cards are stamped 30. 133814 is a BRUSH card with the BRUSH crossed out and 30 inscribed. Frank states "But the Drawbolts are random along with regular Sterlys and a few flat-sides in that range, and they can't be identified and counted." My observations don't support that. All the thirteen guns I've recorded from 132649 to 132927 are flat-sides and the eleven guns I've recorded from 133022 to 133897 are all Drawbolts. The guns I've recorded in the 1324xx and 1325xx range are regular frame Fox-Sterlingworths.

Dave is a careful observer and I greatly respect his opinion that there may be more than what was the accepted number of "about 200" Drawbolt Foxes when I wrote that DGJ manuscript in early 2014. I also stated on page 135 that: despite extensive study I don't have a better number than that.

Likewise I have great respect for the work of John Callahan who was the Savage/Fox Historian at that time. I commissioned John (that means I paid him) for extra work to review the factory Record Cards nearby serial no 133567 which was to be the featured Drawbolt gun in my DGJ piece. In two Reports to me dated May 31 and July 18, 2013, John related that he looked over 1470 numbers from serial nos 132454 to 133924 and while 133567 and some very few others were missing, that entire range was recorded on Trap cards with Trap crossed out, and that: all were identical with 30" barrels that effectively made them: "Sterlingworth Standards". In other words, none were identified as Drawbolts. John wrote that was in 1939 and surmised: it was some sort of clean-up operation. I didn't ask John about Flat Sides nor did I address them in that article.

It sounds like Dave has a compilation of 13 + 11 = 24 examples, and that integrates with the range of 1470 numbers that were reviewed by John who said they all were Sterlingworth Standards ..... no breakdown of Drawbolt, Flat Side or regular Frame 12-gauge Sterlingworths. Net, unless I'm missing something here, everything lines up and there doesn't seem to be anything else to support or deny.

I'm reminded of a piece that Jack O'Connor once wrote; it was titled something like "Picking Your Expert".

frank

[Researcher]

We all owe Frank a vote of thanks for commissioning that study. I was just attempting to state what I've found. I have found no regular frame Fox Sterlingworths within the runs of flat-sides and draw-bolts that I've recorded. I can't say they don't exist, but I've yet to see one. I started recording Sterlingworths in 1989 at the suggestion of McIntosh.