Fox Collectors

Is anyone aware of barrels coming from the factory slightly short of 30" by 1/16" or were they shortened by a 1/16"? The barrels measure 29 15/16". I checked the length with two different tape measures thinking the tape might be incorrect. I then measured barrels from my other guns which I know are 30" to make sure I was not making a mistake. They are short by 1/16"! I still love the gun. It is a 12 gauge Sterlingworth with a straight grip in about 80% condition. I'm surprised Fox put such a nice piece of wood on a Sterlingworth. I'd post a pic but can't figure it out.

.......being a bit short like that is very typical and most likely factory original.

tjw

I have seen 1/4 inch short and are factory original.

Other than the straight gripped Fox-Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game Guns which Savage offered from 1935 to WW-II --


1935


1937


1939



the Sterlingworth never came with anything but a full pistol grip stock. The catalogue text was originally in the 1911 "Campfire" catalogue, the first to include the Sterlingworth "THE STOCK is highest quality plain American Walnut, thoroughly seasoned, nicely checkered on grip and forend. Full capped pistol grip only." By the 1913 "Fox Gets the Game" catalogue the text was changed to "THE STOCK is best quality plain American Walnut, thoroughly seasoned, nicely checkered on grip and forend. Full capped pistol grip only." By the 1917 pocket "Fox Gets the Game" catalogue the text was shortened to "THE STOCK is best quality plain American Walnut, thoroughly seasoned, nicely checkered. Full capped pistol grip only." That is what the catalogue text remained through 1930.

You can email the pictures to AHFCA@comcast.net and I'll post them.

Here are the pictures --

That is a very nice piece of lumber!

Looks to me like the gun was restocked a long time ago, and has been carried a lot since then. I'm sure in my mind the gun didn't leave North 18th Street and Windrim Avenue with that wood.

Thanks for posting the pics. Its possible the gun was restocked. The family I obtained the gun from said it wasn't used for over 20 years by their grandfather or anyone else.
As I mentioned before the barrels are just shy of 30". I measured the chokes and they are full and full. Could it be a special order gun? The serial number is 89,448.

1/16" is certainly within tolerance but that stock is most likely not original. Who cares it's gorgeous!

The first step would be to get a research letter on the gun from the Savage Historian --

http://www.foxcollectors.com/ah_fox/con ... tters.html

I agree, Who cares! Nice gun and it's a keeper if you like straight grip shotguns!

Mike

Maybe I am looking at the photos wrong but that looks like a long tang trigger guard which would not be on a Sterly S&U.
I would speculate on a restock and metalwork.

Of the Foxes I own (a lot of them) almost all are short up to 3/16" from letter. On the other hand, I have a 12 Ga Sterlingworth S&U that measures 26 1/4" and letters as a 26" gun.

Brian, how long should the metal under the stock extending from the trigger guard be?

I am in Afghanistan right now so cant measure any of mine but a ball park guesstimate would be about 4 inches past the rear of the trigger bow. basically they use a regular Sterlingworth guard and rounded instead of pointed on the end. of it.