Hawaiian Fox comes across the pond

[vaturkey]

Found something unusual on Gunbroker a few weeks ago while I was sitting on a picnic table browsing through my phone at the Skyline hotel. While other folks were talking about LC Smiths and the state of the world I had decided it was time for a quick scan of what was for sale. I put in newest listing under Fox and a Straight grip gun showed up. I thought perhaps it was a Skeet and Upland but I didn't know gauge because it wasn't listed. Excused myself from the Cigar and LC Smith discussions and ran into the hotel room and fired up the PC and quickly found that listing.

Not that many photos but with the PC instead of the phone I was able to see the pictures better and Bam, a 20 gauge Skeet and Upland in Hawaii of all places. It had a low price so the owner had no idea what it was most likely. The low price also had a "Best Offer" and being the bottom feeder I am I made a cheaper offer and it was auto accepted. First time seller with No Rating and living in Hawaii, with a rare Fox. What the hell could go wrong.

I then decided to google the fellows address and see if he was indeed a resident there and if I could pinpoint his name with that address. Bingo another hit and everything looked correct. I figured then that based on where he was living and the house he was living in, he had no reason to care much about stealing a few dollars from me. Went ahead and fired some postal money orders to him and sent them certified to that address so he had to sign for them.

Once he got the funds he packed it up and off it went to my local FFL in Va. Arrived yesterday.

Gun is in nice condition. Its been used, but far as I can tell its never been apart. It has the Philly style top lever, but the rest is pure Savage. It had a White Line pad on it which I will replace with a Jostam Anti flinch NOS that I've had for several years. This gun needs that pad for sure. LOP to the end of the wood is a shad over 13" and there are no extra holes drilled in the buttstock, so I suspect it was shipped with a Jostam at the time.

Gun also has DAC or 1 1/2" and DAH of 2 3/8", which I'm sure will be 2 1/2" when the replacement pad is in place. Beyond the replacement pad I'm doing nothing but wax the stock. Gun weighs 5 lb 13 oz. 26" barrels and chokes are .004 and .012. Barrels ring great. I took a few pictures outside and will slap them on in a few minutes.

[vaturkey]

Pics

[vaturkey]

Big files

[vaturkey]

One more

[vaturkey]

Another

[Jimmy Goodtime]

Very nice score, Tom! That should hunt well behind your Setters this fall!

[DarylC]

Now that's a find! Nice job Tom.

[vaturkey]

I sent the fellow who owned the gun an email earlier today asking him where the heck that Fox came from and as Paul Harvey used to say, Its time "For the rest of the story".

The rest of the story is the gun belonged to his father (now deceased) and they lived in Maine. His dad bought it second hand in the early 60s and it was his Grouse and Woodcock gun. His dad only owned two guns. This one, that he used for birds and a Winchester 94, 30 30 that he used for deer in Maine. After his dad passed he relocated to Hawaii (quite a weather change from Maine) and brought both guns with him. He only decided recently to sell them. He still has friends in Maine and goes back every year from Hawaii to deer hunt.

PS. Hard to believe he would leave the great state of Maine to relocate to this place:


https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/75-5 ... 5660_zpid/

[fox-admin]

Tom you have a great nose for finding Foxes. Great find.

[Jeff S]

Looks like a sweet little 20. Congratulations!

[Silvers]

Tom, as others have posted, a nice find and story. Bam! That was a quick delivery. Was it shipped by USPS or otherwise? frank

[Researcher]

My first CE-Grade Ansley H. Fox, I found in a pawn shop on Hotel Street for $165 when our ship the USS Ticonderoga CVS-14 was in port at Pearl. That was over half a century ago!

[SPE33]

I believe that there is pretty decent bird hunting on the big island.