Super Fox ?

[Jeff S]

Well, no one answered Jim McKee's or my question. Here is the answer. The receiver dimensions are different for a standard Fox and a Super Fox. I can't put my hands on my notes on the subject, but I once made a template to identify a Super Fox without taking it out of the rack at a gun show. I carried that template for years, because a friend had bought a Super Fox with a Sterlingworth tag hanging off the trigger guard. I think he paid $300 for it.

I know very little about the Super Fox, but I do recall an article written by "Fox-Admin" for the Double Gun Journal. In the article he shows a picture of a standard Fox, and a Super Fox, both with a set of calipers across the "breech balls". I don't have the article in front of me, but I think the Super Fox measured 2.42" and the std Fox measured 2.37". I'm sure someone in this group will know the exact measurements, but the point is that the receiver of a Super Fox is much thicker than the others.

Found it! The Double Gun Journal, Volume 22, issue 4, page 73, "The standard 12-gauge Fox measures about 2.350" across the breech balls, the Super-Fox magnum sized-action measures 2.420", a full .070" larger." (a quote from Craig's article). So, when you go to a gun show, bring calipers. Jeff

[Researcher]

I've never measured them, but does an Ansley H. Fox gun with 4-weight barrels measure any less across the standing breech than a gun with 1 weight barrels? We know there are some 12-gauge Super-Fox guns with 1 weight barrels. With 12-gauge Super-Fox weights covering a range of well over a pound -- eight pounds four ounces to nine pounds fourteen ounces the norm, with outriders from as light as the seven pound range to as heavy as ten pounds five ounces, where do these differences in weight come from?

[Jeff S]

Craig will know.

[Sporrns]

Thanks to Jeff, Dave and Bill - useful info! Kevin

[fox-admin]

From my observations and measurements most of the difference in weight is in the first 10 inches of the barrel. The 9 lb guns have a barrel bulge just in front of the breech, very little taper in the first few inches think sewer pipes! Tom Kidd mentioned that some collectors thought the chambers had been budged from pressure. There is very little variance in the width of the Super frames in 20 plus I measured as research for my sf article.

[eightbore]

Many years ago, I was browsing at a table at Winter Vegas. I picked up an underpriced Super Fox, the first one I had ever examined. I noticed the bulge just mentioned in the gun I was examining. Coincidentally, a gentleman I knew, who was standing behind me, entered the conversation about the bulge. Personally, I couldn't see how any shooting could have created those bulges and shared that information with the gentleman. I asked if he saw anything suspicious about that gun. Mr. Kidd said he would be glad to own the gun, so I wrote the check and still own the great gun.