Fox Collectors

Daryl, thanks for the introduction and the confession. Very nice picture of the Parker "balls", and Dave thanks for descriptions. I get it! Jeff

Your welcome future straddler Jeff. I need to get you into a decent Parker that you can bag some ducks and some ditch parrots.

Mills;
I'm curious about the colors on that Fox that Bachelder did. Did you use it that much that it wore away so quickly? It just seems that those colors should last longer than they did.

I’m with Daryl on this one...do you know if the colors had a clear lacquer or some other clear finish applied to the colored metal? The reason I am curious is because I have another custom on the hopper that I will have to send out and have color case hardened post-engraving and I’m trying to get an idea of who does the most “correct” colors for a fox at this point in time. In the past I have used John Gillette.
Thanks,
Matt

I'm curious about the blued safety slide. Is that the way they came from the factory?

Not that I've ever seen.

I've got a 1930 vintage Parker Bros. VH-Grade 20-gauge that is about brand new, but it had been left in a case for years and the metal finishes were badly damaged. My Wife bought me the gun for my 55th birthday and by my 70th year I finally made up my mind to have the metal refinished and dropped it off at Bachelders on my way home from Hausemanns that year. They did a nice job, but polished the triggers bright instead of bluing them as the more senior Parker afficianados have told me they should be on the lower grade guns?!?

I saw and handled this Super-Fox at the Northeast SxS right after Mark had it done. The frame colors were atypical Fox and a little gaudy to my eye, and as I recall they looked to be coated with something maybe a lacquer. That was about 6-7 years ago and perhaps Mark had something done to tone down the colors afterwards.

One caution for anyone wanting to get bone charcoal color case hardening done. Despite the frame being held rigid in a fixture during the heat and quench, the frame bar (water table area) can warp. I've read period literature referring to re-fitting the barrels after the case hardening even though they were fitted to the breech faces beforehand. I strongly suggest that you ask the case hardener gent if has/uses a fixture specific to Fox frames.

Now, if after the color case hardening the barrels are a super tight fit against one or both breech faces that's no big deal for a good gunsmith. On the other hand if they're loose your basically SOL and you have a gun that's off the face. Fox was able to accommodate the latter in its factory setting but nowadays you're into a rejointing job so that pretty looking Fox is really done up right and ready to shoot.

Over the years I've looked at many color re-cased Foxes and a high percentage were off the face. Just sayin …..

frank

All of the aforementioned reasons attribute to why I have always been somewhat afraid to send a gun out to be re-color case hardened. I would be sick to my stomach after doing all of that work only to have it come back off-face.
-Matt

Frank is very right (as he usually is). Two things that need to be done by someone who is a master at it is re-case hardening and trigger work.

DarylC wrote:Frank is very right (as he usually is). Two things that need to be done by someone who is a master at it is re-case hardening and trigger work.

Do you know a good trigger man for Foxes ? I need some work done on the rear trigger on one of my Sterlingworths .

Do you know a good trigger man for Foxes ? I need some work done on the rear trigger on one of my Sterlingworths .[/quote]


Vicknair Restorations 717-626-4226. He's located in Lititz, PA.

DarylC wrote:Your welcome future straddler Jeff. I need to get you into a decent Parker that you can bag some ducks and some ditch parrots.

Mills;
I'm curious about the colors on that Fox that Bachelder did. Did you use it that much that it wore away so quickly? It just seems that those colors should last longer than they did.

The case colors were gone when I bought it. At least worn down a good bit.

DarylC wrote:Do you know a good trigger man for Foxes ? I need some work done on the rear trigger on one of my Sterlingworths .

Vicknair Restorations 717-626-4226. He's located in Lititz, PA.[/quote]


Thanks , his wait is way too long for me .

Anybody else that anybody would recommend ?

My Super Fox has some trigger issues too. It has been worked on 4 times at least now.

Mills, can you post a recent picture of this Super? Thanks.