It’s an AH Fox 12 ga SxS BLE, with Krupp steel barrels, in good condition. Serial number indicates she was built in 1912. Lots of honest use showing on her, but no abuse. She locks up tight, with the top lever still closing well right of center. Her tubes are bright with a trace of minor pitting in the right barrel. No cracks, dents, or chips. Aftermarket Pachmyer buttpad installed.
As described above, I was confident that I had made a shrewd purchase. When I got her home and started doing some reading, I discovered I had a very rare configuration. This particular Fox is a Grade B. Hardly anybody ordered B grade, so they are quite rare. In addition, the straight or "English" stock was ordered on 15% or fewer of the double guns Fox produced, IIRC. And, the biggest surprise, this gun has 32" barrels.
I took it in the field the day after I bought it and dropped a ruffed grouse using Gamebore Pure Gold 2 1/2" smokeless shells. I'm truly blessed to have this gun and the opportunity to play with it!
The details:
Length of pull: 14 3/8"
LOP w/o butt pad: 13 15/16"
Barrels: full 32 inches
Drop at comb: 1.43"
Drop at heel: 2.70"
Left muzzle: .698"
Right muzzle: .697"
The measurements at the muzzle would indicate the chokes are very slightly more open than full choke. This conclusion could change if the exact bore diameter were known. My suspicion is that this gun was ordered as a water-fowler and that this is supported by the 32" barrels and full chokes on both barrels.
The weight of the gun came as a bit of a shock. It weighs in at 8.0975 lbs.
Having hunted with it twice already, I found that this seemed much higher than I would have expected. However, the balance point is between the hands and, despite the long barrels, it handles very well. Using Don Amos' formula for evaluating game gun handling characteristics, this gun scores 2.06691
.