Fox Collectors

I just called Briley to get an idea of repair cost. They will redo the ribs and re blue for $650.
That would take my cost to $1000 for an otherwise $1500 gu

Sounds like a "can't go wrong" deal to me.

garvfam wrote:I just called Briley to get an idea of repair cost. They will redo the ribs and re blue for $650.
That would take my cost to $1000 for an otherwise $1500 gu

I don't want to rain on your parade but to get this gun to a $1,500.00 value level it is going to take more than re laying the ribs and a barrel re-blue. You will need to have the the receiver and for-end iron re-cased, have the buffed out engraving sharpened up and do something about the for-end wood. now you are talking about putting $1,500.00 into about a $1,200.00 gun. If you want the gun pay the $350.00, shoot the heck out of it and call it money well spent for the enjoyment it brings you. If the barrels start to separate take it back to the dealer and get your money back as he offered but I would get that in writing.

Twice Barrel wrote:

garvfam wrote:I just called Briley to get an idea of repair cost. They will redo the ribs and re blue for $650.
That would take my cost to $1000 for an otherwise $1500 gu

I don't want to rain on your parade but to get this gun to a $1,500.00 value level it is going to take more than re laying the ribs and a barrel re-blue. You will need to have the the receiver and for-end iron re-cased, have the buffed out engraving sharpened up and do something about the for-end wood. now you are talking about putting $1,500.00 into about a $1,200.00 gun. If you want the gun pay the $350.00, shoot the heck out of it and call it money well spent for the enjoyment it brings you. If the barrels start to separate take it back to the dealer and get your money back as he offered but I would get that in writing.

With you on this one. There are 16 gauge Sterly's in original condition for sale on GB that cost less then $1,500 and they are in original unaltered condition. Purchasing it for $350 and shooting the heck out of it is the way to go. Just keep your fingers crossed that the ribs hold up.

Agreed, I had planned on doing just that.... shoot it and see what happens.
If the barrel ribs split down the road I'll decide then if I want to dump money into barrels or not.
You can't get into 16ga sterlingworth around my neck of the woods for under $1500 unless its in crappy condition. I have one and I truly luv the feel of them. A back up would be nice.

Good plan. I have a 16 gauge Sterlingworth Brush model 16 made in 1922 I picked up from a parts dealer for $200.00 before he started stripping it that looked like it had been used as a paddle by a Chesapeake Bay Oyster man sitting on my bench for a couple of years. One winter day I decided what the heck let's see if I can clean this old girl up. The barrels had some light exterior pitting and were cold blued, no case colors just shiny Chromox bright silvery finish on the receiver and for-end iron, the wood had no varnish left and was bleached to almost white and there was minor pitting on the receiver but with a bit of elbow grease and a dozen coats of Tung Oil on the wood it started to look, not good but presentable. Then I started shooting it, what a surprise, light, fast and it fit perfectly. Now it goes with me on every hunt as my "rainy day" gun. Just because they have some warts doesn't mean they should be relegated to the parts bin.

Just my opinion but the small line of rust along the rib and the barrels, makes me think that it was cold blued.
I think hot bluing would have covered that area better, and would not show a rust line.
And the Dealer that is selling the gun is great to deal with, I have bought many guns from them over the years.

I would not assume that it has been hot blued just because the bluing looks a bit too shiny. If someone did a really high polish on the barrels when prepping for rust blue it can look even shinier than that. A friend of mine was able to bring them up to a very high polish when rust bluing. I have a rust blued 16 ga. that has higher shine than that one. The receiver does look blued though, which does raise a caution flag .......that whoever blued the receiver hot blued it, and the barrels, at the same time. Also, the application of a paste wax, with careful buffing off, can make barrels much more shiny.

FWIW, I'd buy it for $350 in a heartbeat. It's worth more than that for parts.

SRH