Fox Collectors

Hi Folks,

I'm new here and wanted to drop by, say Hi, and ask a question.

Does anyone know if the 20 Ga. SW's were available w/ 30" bbls., and if so, do they ever come up for sale anywhere?

The reason I ask is that I have a beautiful 1928 20 ga. SW with 26" barrels that I bought several yrs. ago. The gun would be 98%-99% both in wood & metal (blueing Case coloring etc.) if not for a "U" shaped hairline crack in the stock that runs from one side of the throat area, around the back of the Tang to the other side .

I was so far off into LaLa land when I saw this gun advertised in the paper and went to look at it that I never noticed the crack at time of purchase. And of course the seller never mentioned it to me. I noticed it a few days later and was going to get my $$$ back (seller would not discount but would give me a full refund).

But then I got to thinking that .... well, I paid $1,100.00 for the gun, and I assume that the crack would negate any collector value, so worst case senerio is I've got a nice little 20 ga. shooter SW for that price so I decided to keep it... I guess life could be worse.

Back to the BBL. question, mine are 26" I haven't determined chokes as I don't have a choke gauge yet. FWIW bores measure 0.600 & 0.614 at muzzle.

Being as we don't have much in the way of upland hunting in my area, I was wanting to find some 30" bbls. if possible, to add a bit of weight and use the gun for some Dove hunting. Been keeping it in the safe way too long now!

Sorry for the long first post.... but these Fox guns just get me all worked up

Appreciate any info you may have, and thanks for listening.

YB

All three gauges, 12-, 16-, and 20-gauge, Sterlingworths were offered with 26-inch (Brush), 28-Inch (Field), 30-inch (Standard), and 32-inch (Trap) barrels. However, the A.H. Fox Gun Co. and Savage Arms Corp. don't appear to have sold very many of the 16- and 20-gauge guns with the 30- or 32-inch barrels. In my two decades of recording observed specimens I've recorded three 30-inch 16-gauge Sterlingworths, one 30-inch 20-gauge Sterlingworth and one 32-inch 20-gauge Sterlingworth. Long barrel smallbores, while still scarce, seem to be a bit more common in the graded Fox doubles.

Hi Researcher,

Thanks for the info. Would you by any chance happen to know if the 20 ga. Sterlingworths with the 26" "Brush" bbls. came from the factory with standard / specific chokes, or were there various choke configurations offered?

Thanks again,

YB

YB, It is my understanding the the "Brush" configuration was IC & Mod with 26" bbls specifically. Marshfellow
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Tom, the box specifies cylinder and modified. The poster's gun seems to be bored that way also.

Back to one of YB's questions in the first post.... finding a set of 30" barrels to make the gun better balanced and more suitable for his hunting. Early Fox guns were made before modern match-machining techniques and barrels are hardly interchangeable w/o professional fitting. You might find the odd one now or then that will work OK w/o fitting but your chance of winning a nice prize in your state lotto is better. Besides, 30" 20 gauge Fox barrels are pretty scarce and I personally have never seen a set of finished barrels advertised. You might find a set of so-called NOS barrels but they often require a lot of work like rib matting, striking, bluing, etc. besides the fitting cited earlier. If you want a better balanced Fox 20 gauge, better to look for a complete gun IMO. Silvers

Bill,

The catalogues said cylinder, and apparently so did the boxes. The one 20-gauge Sterlingworth that I have that letters cylinder and modified actually has .015" and .021".

The normally catalogued chokes for the 26-inch (Brush) were cyl & mod., for the 28-inch (Field) mod. & full, and for the 32-inch (Trap) full & full. In Philadellphia the normal catalogued chokes were full & full for the 30-inch (Standard), but in Utica they were mod. & full.

Thank You for the additional info Silvers and Researcher.

Mine is a 1928 Philly gun.

Sounds like I would be better off looking for a complete gun.

V/R

YB