20 Ga Fox Sterlingworth

[TRAVNTALL]

Good morning.

First time posting here but I have been reading for a while. Great stuff.

I came by a Philly Sterlingworth 20 ga extractor gun that has good and bad. Serial # 2520xx (1919?)

The bad - wood is shot, lower barrel rib and forearm loop are loose, heavy age patina and a few bunged up screws.

The good - 28" barrels, the barrel bores seem to be untouched and no pitting in the chambers or bores, the chambers are 2 1/2", the lock up is very tight with lever being right of center, and it functions and other than dark patina not pitted with rust.

I think I am going to work on getting the gun back in the field and will do most of the work myself starting with new wood. I am going to leave the frame with the patina and work the other stuff around it. It is a labor of love not profit.

My question is, other than the barrels, what parts were originally either rust or nitre blued.

BTW, Jason at Fox Parts has been a great resource.

I have to get to work and will post some pics later.

Thanks for the input.

[Researcher]

In that serial number range the trigger guard and the forearm iron were nitre blued and the barrels were rust blued. I haven't narrowed down when they changed but for sure by the 259xxx range the forearm irons were color case hardened.

[TRAVNTALL]

Researcher, Thanks for the info.

Some as obtained pics and one with action fully disassembled.

[TRAVNTALL]

More pics

[TRAVNTALL]

Last pics and yes that is an antique wood dowel used for loop reinforcement.

[Foxnut]

TRAVNTALL,
Glad that you posted about your Sterlingworth. Looks like it has enjoyed a useful life! Oh the stories that gun could tell if it could talk. As far as the patina on the receiver, clean good w/kerosene or one of the gun cleaners then oil, remaining patina won’t hurt a thing!!

Others on here are much more in tune on relaying/soldering rib and slide. Good luck and keep us posted on pics of progress. Thanx!

[DarylC]

This will be interesting to follow. Good luck with your endeavor.

[fox-admin]

Good Luck, I enjoy a project but that is a BIG project. Keep us posted.

[TRAVNTALL]

I probably will not get too deep into this until summer, but I was stripping another stock and figured I would also do the Sterly stock while I was in the mess. For an over 100 YO stock it is really not that bad. I have new wood in route but in time I may get this back to right. I do have one question - Is the corrugated plate in the head something someone did later or was this a factory feature? Thanks

[vaturkey]

The staple in the stock head is something seen quite frequently on small bore foxes. The one's I've seen were factory work.

[TRAVNTALL]

Thanks for the info.

[TRAVNTALL]

A big Shout-out to Jason at Fox Gun Parts. He supplied me the wood and all parts I needed to see this through. He was super easy to communicate and deal with.

The easy stuff is over - now starts the actual work.

[Foxnut]

A big Shout-out to Jason at Fox Gun Parts. He supplied me the wood and all parts I needed to see this through. He was super easy to communicate and deal with.

The easy stuff is over - now starts the actual work.

Let the fun begin!! Agree, Jason has been great to work with!

[TRAVNTALL]

I had a little time today to fool around a bit so I dug into the wood dowel repair at the fore arm loop. It looks like the bottom rib was bent over into the channel between the barrels and then the wood janbed in there in was in there good but I got it out. There did not appear to be any significant rust at least what I could see. The forearm loop is super loose and the short rib is popped up at the loop end. All in all though nothing to make matters worse as far as I can tell.

I do have one question though. There is a fastener that goes from the top of the top rib down through the loop. Is this a pin, screw or not original?

[TRAVNTALL]

More pics