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I shot sporting with some friends yesterday and the nephew of one was using a 12 ga Fox "Pin Gun" s/n 590xx that had a missing barrel keel. He asked if I could replace it and we made a deal to swap some parts for the work. So last evening I checked the bores and chokes and was surprised to see the chambers are really short at about 2-7/16". The nephew was shooting 2-3/4" Federal promotional shells in it. Now. let's say the Pin Gun being that early was originally chambered for period 2-5/8" shells ..... but even with a 1/8" hull overlap into the cone those chambers are still pretty short.
Here's a pic showing my chamber gauge in the left. Those rings on the gauge are at 1/4" increments, first one back from the chamber indicates 2-1/2"
Some txts to my friend and nephew asked if I could also extend both chambers to full 2-3/4". Some wall measurements first to verify thickness and that's now done. frank
Last edited by Silvers on Fri Nov 29, 2024 8:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Wow, those are very short chambers! One would wonder with shooting 2 3/4” target loads in those 2 7/16” chambers what the additional pressure would be?!
So, in addition to the missing lower keel, the bottom rib was loose for about 2" behind the muzzles. Probably the fella who tried to put some solder in the open space got the rib loose. A good example of how vintage double-gun work often expands and you get into more than might be first apparent, and also why I rarely do Fox repair work and then only for good friends. Well, I was already committed on the Parker parts trade deal and went ahead with the rib and keel repairs. The keel replacement is straightforward but it's always a challenge to get short loose sections of rib re-soldered without loosening even more of the rib or ruining the bluing.
This pic shows the gaps between the tubes and lower rib, and crude solder in the void where the bottom keel used to be.
Second one shows the completed work. I used a chem solution to highlight the new lower steel keel and solder joints for this pic. Solder also renewed the joint around the original upper keel.
