Cutting Barrels

[jakl]

How does this typically affect value? I got a 16ga AE that had the barrels cut from 28 to 26".......................................thanks.

[Researcher]

The kiss of death!! A gun with cut barrels barely worth 50% of equal gun with pristine unmolested barrels.

[MilRob]

Definitely hurts resale. But didnt a 16 or 20 ga CE recently sell for like 9K with cut barrels?

[vaturkey]

Agree, it is often the kiss of death. That said, since Fox chokes were so long (4 to 5 inches in many cases) even a 2" cut can still result in a fair degree of choke remaining. Hence a full/mod gun can be cut and still in some cases even be mod/ic and thus still useful for the intended purpose. In my opinion if the gun can be purchased cheap enough it can still be one helluva a good deal dependent on whether the user just wants a nice shooter.

[jakl]

Thanks for the responses.

[Twice Barrel]

Didn't I read somewhere, perhaps here, that sometimes, perhaps often that Fox would cut barrels to fill and order if the requested barrel length was not on hand or readily available?

[MARSHFELLOW]

Yes, that is correct.

tjw

[Researcher]

that sometimes, perhaps often that Fox would cut barrels to fill and order if the requested barrel length was not on hand or readily available

There are a handful of such card notations -- "perhaps often" does not enter into it!!

[Twice Barrel]

Were shortened barrels always noted on the production card and production log?

[Researcher]

Were shortened barrels always noted on the production card

The answer to that is unknowable. There is no production log.

[Twice Barrel]

Were shortened barrels always noted on the production card

The answer to that is unknowable. There is no production log.

If that is the case information listed on a research letter could be wrong am I not correct?

[Researcher]

If that is the case information listed on a research letter could be wrong am I not correct?

Yes, could be. See Frank Srebro's article "By the Numbers" in the Spring 2012 Newsletter.

Normally, at least in later years, when a gun was pulled from inventory and modified to fill an order, a larger Fox Special card was filled out for the gun. It seems that more often than not only the original production card or the Fox-Special card survive in the records. By luck, I happen to have a Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector Field Deluxe where both cards survive. The original production card --



The Fox-Special card --



I have a very late 20-gauge, 26-inch barrel, A-Grade where the original production card has the Half under Grip and the F & F for chokes crossed out.



I'm sure there was a Fox-Special card that covered restocking with a straight grip, opening chokes to improved cylinder & modified and possibly fitting a beavertail forearm, but that card isn't in the records. Just to add fuel to my theory on my gun, the gun immediately before it has such a Fox-Special card surviving.

[Twice Barrel]

So hypothetically we know have the possibility that there exist guns that letter with barrel lengths shorter than those listed on the research letter, without keels because they have been removed when the barrels were shortened, chokes that are more open than listed and shorter than the normal that are in-fact in the configuration that the left the factory. So what are the clues that a barrel is not in their original configuration? Placement of the front bead? Radius of the muzzle of the barrels? Or ?

[Researcher]

Bottom line -- there are no absolutes!!

Some of us get a pretty good feel for this sort of thing after 40 to 50 years of looking at these guns. I'm sure there are those smarter than me who get it sooner, and I'm equally sure there are those who will never get it.

You could be dealing with Bakers, Lefevers or whatever other guns for which no records survive!! The production card or a letter from John is a clue, but that is all.

[bbman3]

I was buying a16 28 inch CE and had to cancel because the card showed 30 inch barrels.I could not take a chance. Bobby