1914 AH Fox 20 Guage

[Larry4]

I inherited a Fox A model with factory inlay, 30 inch barrels , 2 triggers, serial number 200663. The gun has been well used and very well cared for. Growing up my father carried this and I was relegated a Remington Model 11🥹

I will try and post pictures.

[Larry4]

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[Larry4]

Any idea how much this may be worth? The gunsmith who put the the pad on offered me $2500.00 but this is going to my son.

[Jeff S]

That’s a wonderful family heirloom that must have gone on many hunting adventures. While hunting with your father, what was your primary game, pheasants, rabbits? It must bring back lot’s of memories and someday it will do the same for your son. Value? Priceless!

[vaturkey]

Super hard gun to find. Early AE with second generation engraving, with the snap on forearm and 30" barrels and the straight grip. Well used but well taken care of. Far as value goes, I would think if everything checks out as fine you would be looking at around 4k to 5K, but that's just my guess. If two bidders wanted it badly, it could go for a lot more. Only takes two to do the auction Tango.

[Researcher]

Welcome aboard. What a wonderful family heirloom. The A.H. Fox Collectors Association, Inc. has photocopies of the surviving production cards for A- to FE-Grade guns. Dues paying members get a jpeg of one card per year as a membership benefit and can get more for $25 via paypal. A few years ago, Savage Arms Corp. that bought the A.H. Fox Gun Co. in 1929, sent the production cards to the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. The photocopies the AHFCA have are mostly just the face of the card. A letter from Cody would get any information that may be on the back of the card.

https://centerofthewest.org/explore/fir ... ds/savage/

At the time your gun was made the heaviest 20-gauge loads our North American ammunition companies produced carried 7/8-ounce of shot. The 1914 A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalog showed that the "standard" chambering of their 20-gauge guns was for the then "standard" 2 1/2-inch shell. Chambering for longer shells was a special-order item.

The heaviest loads the ammunition companies provided in the 20-gauge 2 1/2-inch shell was 2 1/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 18-grains of dense smokeless powder (such as Infallible or Ballistite) pushing 7/8-ounce of shot.

In the longer shells, 2 3/4-, 2 7/8- and 3-inch they offered a bit hotter load of 2 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 20-grains of dense smokeless powder (such as Infallible or Ballistite) pushing 7/8-ounce of shot.

ARROW 20-gauge, 3-inch, 20 Grains Ballistite, 7-8 ounce #6Ch.jpg (70.99 KiB) Viewed 1172 times

One of the developments to come out of WW-I was progressive burning smokeless powder and after The Great War our ammunition companies set about applying it to shotgun shells. The first on the market was Western Cartridge Co. with a 1 1/4-ounce 12-gauge load and a 1-ounce 20-gauge load put up in their 2 3/4-inch FIELD shell for 1922.

FIELD Super-X 20-gauge #6 Ch.jpg (74.27 KiB) Viewed 1172 times

The other manufacturers quickly followed suit, Remington with their Heavy Duck Load which soon morphed into their Nitro Express and Peters with their High Velocity. The 20-gauge 2 3/4-inch and 3-inch Magnums were introduced in 1954.

[Larry4]

Thanks for all the information. My great-great Uncle bought the gun. E was a successful contractor in Washington State. The gun was used for ducks and pheasants, etc. One of pictures of him shows a large amount of ducks lined up. Unfortunately he didn't believe he needed to learn to swim. He drowned in the Deschutes River in Oregon. I believe the gun uses the longer shells.