Fox Collectors

Picked up SN 52502 the other day. Have been looking for a 28" for some time as it seems 30" are the most commonly encountered. Bought this one inexpensively and it will no doubt turn into a shooter with RST light loads (or handloads). It's truly a silver gun with zero case colors and has a loose buttstock that needs to be tightened up coupled with a small hairline crack at the stockhead on the left side. Also current LOP is 13 3/8" to the end of a Fox Buttplate. Must have been owned by a smurf as some point. Adding an appropriate vintage pad will bring it back to 14 3/8" which is fine. Current DAC and DAH is 1.5" and 2.5". The barrels ring like 100 year old chimes and the bores are bright and both measure at .724. Choke on right barrel is .011 and left is .033 and the chokes are long at circa 5". Gun has some pitting on the outside about 18" down from the chambers on the left barrel only. Not sure if it will polish out, but we shall see what the barrel thickness exactly at that point so we see what we have to work with.

Only other thing is I plan on keeping the original wood and hopefully can just clean it up and get the checkering recut. FWIW, engraving is pretty nice and sharp. Nice tight gun. Once I get the kinks taken care of this might be a pretty good grouse gun. Current weight is 6 lbs 8 oz which is amazingly light for a 12 gauge. Guessing the number 4 tubes have something to do with that. Here's few pictures:

Some guys have all the luck! I've been looking for something like this myself as a winter project gun, but the last I saw out here was a parts gun with no barrels [Blown] that would cost too much to even consider restoring. It went at auction for $700.00 so I let it go. Thats a nice one, enjoy. Lee.

Tom, I spotted your post this am. Congrats on a nice old timer. Just a couple of thoughts: Restriking of the pitted area will have to be "blended in" over a run of +/- many inches so the polished-out area doesn't look constricted. For sure, pressures are relatively low that far down the barrel using period-pressure shells, but who knows what the next owner might want to stuff in the chambers? As you already said, barrel wall measurement is going to be critical. I've gone thru that myself several times now. Another thought is on your LOP calculation, I probably haven't had enough coffee this morning but I'm thinking if the LOP is 13-3/8" right now with the Fox buttplate, you're going to end up with about 14" (not 14-3/8") when a new 1" pad is installed. I know Galazan makes a 1-1/2" period type pad but IMO they don't look the best. Final comment, a real Silver's pad will add maybe 4-5 ounces to your already low gun weight. Still quite low for a 12 gauge 28 incher. Congrats again on a nice Old Fox. Silvers

Your pretty much right Frank. LOP to the end of the wood is 13 1/8". Adding the 1" pad will get me close to the norm for me of 14 1/4". So my steps in order of need are getting the stock head issue taken care of. Then add a pad of whatever 1" thickness type works best (thinking the Galazan Silvers Clone). Barrel wall measurements will dictate the next step I take after that as far as striking goes. This is pure and simple going to be a shooter. Always wanted to have a pin gun to take to the woods and this one is already set up for grouse hunting for sure.

This one weighs the same as a 16 gauge SW I have with 28" barrels. Never had 4 weight barrels before. I think its a blessing and a curse. Blessing because they are certainly light. Curse, in that you can't do much striking to clean things up because they are already probably pretty thin. I'll see how this unfolds and move in whatever direction the facts take me. This does have all the making of being a nice winter project for sure.

Neat pin gun... I have two 4 wight 12s that I have measured... one measures .029 on both barrels at the min and the other measures .026/.027... both original never messed with barrels. And counter to some theories that Fox used overbored barrels on 4 weight guns, both of mine are tightly bored ... respectively .726/.726 and .724/.722

good luck with her! I think you should have some room for cleaning up if you pitting is not too deep and depending on location... remember that the numbers I gave are at the thinnest point in the barrel and NOT the average thickness throughout.

Thanks much guys. Zero pitting until your 18" down from the face. Pressures will be low there for sure, but you still have to have something to work with. I'll figure it out this week I'm guessing. Tom

Quick update. Dan Rossiter at Custom Stocks and Steel has had the gun for some time and finally had the time to work it into the next rust-blueing cycle for next week. He was able to get out 99.5% of the pitting on the barrels and the min barrel wall thickness is .025 after significant barrel restriking. Next up is to take care of the crack at the stock head. Degreasing at the stock head to fix the crack will cause the finish there to be removed thus he will refinish the entire stock and rechecker. I provided a Jostam 1" period pad to Dan as well as an Ivory bead. Should be a nice little grouse gun for next year. FWIW, Dan estimates he struck enough off the barrels to probably compensate for the additional weight of the pad. If not he will bore out some wood so it balances as it should. After pictures will be posted down the road at some point. Will be nice to bring this one back to useable shape for sure. Can't imagine too many Sterlingworth Company marked guns are in the field these days. PS. Barrels were originally 3 weight, so there was some metal for Dan to work with.

Looked at the gun this past week. Blueing is fantastic. Guess if I had a magnifying glass I might see some of the pitting, but I can't with the naked eye. The thinnest part of the barrels is .025 and that's about 5" from the barrel ends. Dan will go ahead an install a period pad I left him which will bring the gun in at 14 1/8" LOP. Told him to go ahead and finish the stock and recut the checkering while he was at it. This will be a dandy little 12 gauge shooter down the road. I'll post pictures once I get the gun back.