Building a Fox just for me

[Stan Hillis]

The barrels are #2 weight, Bill. It ought not come in too heavy.

Another thing I want, top lever checkered on both sides. Not useful, but really looks good.

SRH

[eightbore]

Stan, the next time we meet up, I'll share my pictures. The gun may not be stocked for two years, engraved for four. However, the raw metal work is worth a look. My top lever was filed to imitate Becker gun #2.

[Stan Hillis]

Sounds good, Bill. I have been scouring old DGJ issues for ideas and read an old Tom Kidd article about a Becker gun that is very interesting. Title of the article is "The Second Becker", in issue 2 of Volume 10, Summer 1999, p.77. Some very interesting stuff there. I am still gathering information and formulating ideas, and I find the engraving style on this gun very unusual and attractive. These old issues are a goldmine of information and ideas.

Hope to see you at a shoot next spring somewhere.

SRH

[eightbore]

I used pictures of Becker guns and other graded Foxes to build a file for Dewey Vicknair to use in filing and sculpting my frame. I'm not sure I ever got the picture album back from him. Dewey has filed some great guns, but I think mine was the best he ever did. He even got so into the project that he started giving me ideas for my approval. His work on making screws and installing lock screws and lining them up was perfection. However, all of this perfection may not survive the stockmaker and engraver. I will not use the engraving to mask mistakes in screw installation or floorplate fit. I will hope for the best.