Fox Collectors

Just asking does anyone have that one double or that one gun that they will not part with. My gun is an Iver Johnson [Super Trap] that my grandfather had. anyone else?

I have a bunch of them that I will not sell, but I'm 65 years old and my lovely wife will have them advertised for sale or auction within a week of my death. Keep posted.

Bill please give her my email address and tell her I will pay her every penny you told her you paid for them.

Best,

Mike

I have one Sterlingworth 16 gauge that I have instructed my son to bury with me. The rest will be divided between my Son, my Son-in-Law and my brother cause I can't stand the thought of my wife and daughter holding a yard sale with my guns and bird dogs as the main attractions. The wife will be taken care of however because there is enough life insurance, annuities, and other investments that she won't miss the measly $20K the guns represent.

My Dad's Fox Sterlingworth bought by him in 1919 from S.B. McMaster Sporting Goods here in Columbia, South Carolina. This was the only shotgun he owned. He hunted everything from doves to deer with it. He carried it in the trunk of his car in a canvas breakdown case when he traveled on business because his buisness clients were alway taking him hunting. The trunk of his car must have leaked beause the gun had rust over the barrels and the action. He gave the gun to me when he could no longer hunt. Several years before he passed away I had the gun professionally restored to "as-new" and gave it back to him. I will never forget the look on his face when he saw his gun in the condition that it was when he first bought it. we talked for a long time about the hunts that he and it had. Matamuskeet, North Carolina when the flights of ducks were so thick that mid-day would look like dusk. Rabbits by the truck load. Doves, quail & whitetail deer. This is the one that will go to my oldest son with the admonition to pass it to his oldest son and on and on.

Best Regards, George

BTW: Mr. Callahan's letter confirms all the dimensions as well as the Consignee being S.B. McMaster." SN 82283 was shipped from Fox's plant in Philadelphia, PA on February 26, 1919 to the original consignee entered as S.B. McMaster (no address provided) It' Grade: Sterlingworth Standard, 12 gauge, 30" barrels, choked full & full, Walnut stock, 14" length of pull, 2 3/4 drop at heel, Weight 7 1/2 to 7 3/4 pounds" Price was $55.00. My dad was in the automobile business at that time, married to his first wife Rose, who he met during WWI in France. He was with Gibbes Machinery Company in Columbia who was the Packard dealer. They also sold Auburn, Cord & Duesenberg, Stanley & White's Steamers and about a dozen other makes (a little OT) In eight more years it will be 100 years old and is still as good as new.

(the above was edited & corrected when I looked at Mr. Callahan's letter)

Great thread...

True story...

I have two guns I will not sell. One of them in my Fox 16 GA 26" barrel brush model. I love it because it is so light for a 16 GA (I always appreciated that Fox put their 16s on 20 GA frames.) Its my go to Grouse gun and I try to use it everyday I can during the season here in Maine. Its my first and only Fox so far (which will change over time) and I purchased it two years ago. It was love at first sight and I cant say enough enough good things about it, as I'm sure other's feel about their Fox 16 GA. I actually went to the gun dealer to buy a Parker O frame 16 GA he had on sale, but I picked the Fox over that one when I saw it and handled both of them. The other gun is my Grandfather's 12GA Elsie Field model w/ 30" barrels. In my impatience and imprudence I did not have enough $ on hand to buy the Fox 16 GA outright, so before I headed up to the shop I grabbed the Elsie as a trade towards the Fox. I justified it in my mind because I never used it. It just sat around. (I could of chosen the 20 GA Browning BSS I had at the time, but the disposition of that gun is a different story) So right or wrong I traded it for the Fox and about a minute after I left the shop I had a sinking feeling in my gut. I dealt with the sellers remorse by admiring the Fox as much as I could but I couldn't shake the feeling. A year and a half went buy and I checked the dealers website weekly to see if he still had my Grandfather's gun. I could tell by a certian scratch recognizable on the stock. The Gods must have had some pity on me or there just wasn't much demand for long barreled Elsie Field models cause the gun never sold, until I saved up enough to buy her back. The second I saved up enough for her I went back and purchased her last September. While the dealer was concluding the background check he looked up and said, "didn't you bring this one in as a trade?" I replied with a smile and paid him. Lost money over the whole thing, but I feel better having her back at home. I will take a turkey with her this spring, beginners luck permitting. May even chase some stocked pheasant with her this fall as well.

20 ga straight grip,sst,beavertail late Remington GHE Parker that i have shot thousands of bobwhites with.20 ga and 16 sterlingworths that i love to hunt with! Bobby

George and nca: great stories! I'll never sell my 16ga Sterlingworth, my first Fox and my go-to gun. But the most precious gun I own is even more plebeian than that: my dad's Savage 775a 16ga autoloader, the only shotgun he owned in my lifetime (that I can remember anyway), and the first shotgun I ever shot.

My Grand Dads 16 Sterlingworth. He was as close to ambidextrous as any one I have ever known. Could write equally well with either hand and drive spikes with either hand. My cousins and I were shooting at crows on the farm one day and missing most of them. Pap sent me to the house for his Bird Gun and 2 shells. He proceeded to shoot a right crossing bird, left handed then switched shoulders and crushed a left crosser. All he said about it was"that's how you shoot them crows boys". "You can take my gun back to the house now". After his passing, Granny said that He wanted me to have it because I was the serious bird hunter of the bunch and he wanted the gun used but taken care of. I've shot a truck load of roosters with it since then and it shall be passed down when I'm gone. Anything else I have can be had for the right price but not Paps Sterlingworth.

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The one gun I will never sell is not a Fox but a Savage. It is an 1899 lever action in .303 savage made in 1901.

I walked into a nice out of the way gun store on my way home from a hunting trip and saw something that caught my eye.

I already had a small collection of Savage 1899's and 99's and knew it was potentially something special. What was unique about it was that it was stocked with a very rare special order Birds Eye Maple stock. I've since learned alot about its' history such as when it was made, when it shipped from the factory, what store it was shipped to, and who the original buyer was.

It was like walking into a gun store and finding a Becker Fox on the shelf for the price of a Savage 311.

My "keeper"? A 1907 L C 2E that got me started collecting. It's a 16, Straight stock,HOT, 27" tubes choked IC/M with 3" chambers and long cones. It letters and is in unrestored VG original condition, and is the first straight stock gun I own and have shot. I'm the third owner, the first being a barrel fitter for Hunter Arms. It'll be on display at the Southern all weekend at the L C display, so I'll have to compete in the sub-gauge events with another gun. It's NOT a "closet queen", as it gets heavy use during dove season every year and with Hevi-shot Classic Doubles has taken its share of Mallards and Woodies over decoys.

The 3040 Krag that my Dad, and later I, shot our first deer with. The 16 Gauge custom stocked SW will go to my Grandson. Everything else is negotiable!

The Fox I don't intend to part with is my CE with straight grip. Also have my wife's grandfather's 12 ga Remington model 11.

Hope I have interested grand kids so I can leave them all at least one SxS to keep the wife from giving them away to the
"carpetbaggers".

Mike