Fox Collectors

Can anyone tell me what length the hammer stirrup should be on a Sterly 16 frame. I removed a worn one from mine and told Jason Barden I thought it was the shorter one, he agreed. When I received the new one it was shorter than the one I removed. Has anybody replaced these that could answer this, and is there a secret to compressing the main spring to get this lined up for the axel pin?
Thanks, Chris

Use a pair of channel lock pliers (carefully) to compress the spring until the pin lies up.

I'll check that out when I have the receiver in front of me. I did only remove the one hammer, the pin is in the middle just ready to come through once the hammer 's in place.
Do you recall if the 16s use the short or long stirrup?
Thanks again.........

Make a pin same size as hammer pin only longer and sharpen the point and it will align your hammer.I put together a new old stock frame and used the short hammer stirrip and the mainspring had hardly any power.would not bust a cap.Finally figured out what the problem was.The frame was a rebated DE with serial number and stamped D.Closest I will ever come to owning a DE! Tony did have it . Bobby

Good Idea! I will give that a try. Those springs make things tough on the ol fingers. Yeah I pulled a longer stirrup out of my 16. Jason Barden sent me an extra set of short stirrups just in case. He's a good guy to do business with, great turn around times and very helpful. Thanks again Bobby. Oh yeah, I'll post pics of my Sterly 16 stock that you coached me on the finish, as soon as I put it back together.
Chris............AZ

Good Idea! I will give that a try. Those springs make things tough on the ol fingers. Yeah I pulled a longer stirrup out of my 16. Jason Barden sent me an extra set of short stirrups just in case. He's a good guy to do business with, great turn around times and very helpful. Thanks again Bobby. Oh yeah, I'll post pics of my Sterly 16 stock that you coached me on the finish, as soon as I put it back together.
Chris............AZ

I have one completely apart right now, a 20 ga Sterly. Tell me what measurement you need and I will put a caliper on it. Gil

Actually I have the 16 together and have hunted with it these past two weeks. I did use the longer one and it works great. I'll get the pics posted soon. Thanks again!
Chris.............AZ

Anyone know how many different lengths of stirrips? I have only seen two . Bobby

Bobby, I have both sizes. I think there are only 2 sizes. Jason Barton sent me both. Thanks again for your tips on the refinish, still trying to figure out how to downbload the pics.
Chris

There are two basic lengths of the stirrups, for extractor and for ejector guns. Then the length was adjusted during assembly for the mainspring's "spring rate" - due to variances in the springs made by different manufacturers.

Silvers

You're right, my other Sterly has the shorter of the two. Silvers, I'm having trouble posting the pics, any other way than Photo Bucket?
Chris

I use Photobucket so I'm not familar with any of the other pic hosting sites. Instructions have been posted here many times; here's a recent one. See the second post on this thread, from member: vaturkey. I really can't add anything to Tom's instructions.

http://foxcollectors.com/My%20Forum/php ... f=2&t=5648

Silvers wrote:There are two basic lengths of the stirrups, for extractor and for ejector guns. Then the length was adjusted during assembly for the mainspring's "spring rate" - due to variances in the springs made by different manufacturers.

Silvers

How were spring rates determined? I have a 16 ga that I was having light primer strikes with. Gun was on face and tight with adequate firing pin protrusion. I eventually added a washer behind the main spring to give it more tension and the issue went away. I bought some new springs from Jason after measuring the current springs but I have not disassembled the gun again to swap them out yet.

I do it "by feel" when installing the hammer(s). I presume that's how the original assemblers did it. Even a thou or two difference in wire diameter will make a difference in spring rate. And then you have slight variations in spring length, number of coils, differences in spring diameter etc. If the spring is too strong it will bend the stirrup or prematurely wear its pin end.

Anyone trying to properly install a replacement mainspring(s) is in for a real treat. Best advice I can give to readers with hammer problems, is to send your Fox to someone who know's what he's doing.