Fox Collectors

This one is a little more unusual . It starts out as a Utica made, 26" Cyl & IC Sterlingworth "Brush" straight grip (according to Callahan letter) was returned to factory and a year later sold as a second (according to Callahan letter) but now has C Grade engraving (its factory, laid against 3 other C grades and there is no difference) most likely done by a buddy of the guy who bought it at work. It has the short case colored Sterlingworth S&U trigger guard but with C engraving. Serial number is Sterlingworth, snap on fore-end. Anyway, the stock is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" , too flat and has a small wrist crack so no bending.

what better candidate for a restock. no need to do any engraving, the engraving is sharp and has about 95%+ of the original case coloring. Dan Rossiter will do a new straight grip stock for it, extended tang added to the original guard (to conserve the C engraving on it) horn fore-end tip, slightly longer fore-end (9"). Wood came from a AHFGCA member (thanks T!) . this is not an attempt to create a C Grade. Its a way to rejuvenate a great little gun with some cool character. Photos will be forthcoming.

Sounds like a great project. Keep us posted.

Brian is using the top blank in the picture. Color is off, but give you an idea of what smoky English Walnut looks like. This is a really special piece of English and I was glad to provide it to Brian for this one of kind type project.

That is some really interesting wood!!!! It looks a bit like morta. Do you have any photos with similar wood on a gun?

Ithaca33 wrote:That is some really interesting wood!!!! It looks a bit like morta. Do you have any photos with similar wood on a gun?

I bought both blanks from an outdoor writer who lives in Montana and they are both California English. He took the picture and the color is way off from what they both are. I think he said he had a filter on his camera at the time and that it was in the evening and the light was going down. Regarding what it will look like finished, I think the top blank will look very similar to the blank Steven Dodd Hughes used on his custom fox that he wrote about in his two books (Fine Gunmaking: Double Shotguns and Double Guns and Custom Gunsmithing). I'm keeping the bottom blank for now. It is actually really set up for a English stocked gun and I have a 16 gauge project in the hopper.

PS. Did some digging around and found another photo the writer supplied. This gives a much better indication of the color of the blanks. In this new photo the lower blank is the one Brian is using and I'm retaining the top blank:

Love the grain on that blank!!

Nice project. Should look really good when it is done. One thought I would have is having the forend iron engraved to match the rest of the C grade engraving. The plain forend iron kind of catches my eye. Just a thought.

That's going to be a sweet looking gun!

Update on the C Grade Sterlingworth restock.
I am going with a semi beavertail. very slender not much more than a splinter but better hand protection and very sleek.
Horn butt plate instead of HRBP. Much more durable for those spills chasing Partridge.

Awesome smoke in that blank. Dan did a semi-beavertail on my 20 gauge custom with 26" barrels as well. Its a nice way to give one a bit more to hang onto and also balance the gun as required. That's going to be one sweet grouse gun.

Wow what a beautiful piece of wood NICE!

The horn butt plate is a nice touch. What's your source for the horn?

Dan supplied the horn buttplate.
Obviously those guard screws are temps. the finished screws will be properly timed.

Maybe Ill write a little story on the gun and submit to the newsletter , don't think it would be of much interest though, its a lunch box Sterly for all intents.

Be a story well worth writing Brian for sure.