Fox Collectors

Hello. I am becoming interested in the A. H. Fox guns and am trying to learn what I can before I dive in and buy one. I seem to recall seeing somewhere that when Savage acquired the Fox name, they continued to use previously manufactured A. H. Fox receivers in the earliest Savage guns until they exhausted the supply and began making only the Savage model B and Stevens 311 type guns. Is there any truth to this? If so, how would I know what Savage has A. H. Fox parts and which ones are simply Savages?

You probably want to read Mike McIntosh's book: "A.H. Fox - Finest Gun In The World"

Best Regards, George

That is not how it was at all. Savage bought the A.H. Fox Gun Co. in the fall of 1929 and continued to make Ansley H. Fox double and single barrel shotguns until WW-II. They even introduced several new models -- the SP-/SPE-Grades, the Skeet & Upland Game Guns, the Trap Grade, etc. Then in 1940, Savage introduced the Fox Model B which was really just a gussied up Springfield Model 311, and not a Fox at all. In 1940 the Model B had a list price of $25.75 when the lowest priced real Fox, the Fox-Sterlingworth, listed for $48.50. By the January 22, 1945, price list, the last to have real Fox doubles, the Model B was up to $34.50 and the Fox-Sterlingworth was $66.50.

So then are the 1929-1939 guns the ones made in Utica? And the model B is the same or very close to the Stevens 311? I guess that this gun is an early model B then right?

Yes. When Savage purchased the A.H. Fox gun from the Godshalks, they moved the operation to the Savage factory in Utica, New York, and the real Ansley H. Fox guns were made there until just after WW-II. The Godshalks continued on as the Fox Co. or Fox Products Co. in the old factories in Philadelphia, making fishing reels, automobile accessories, toy guns, golf equipment and other light industrial items, until about 1980. After WW-II the Savage factory in Utica was put to making washing machines and other products for the post War housing boom, and Savage consolidated their arms making operations at their Stevens factories in Chicoppee Falls, Mass. Between 1960 and 61 Savage moved their arms making operations to a new modern factory in Westfield, Mass.