Fox Collectors

What are your thoughts on the % hit in valuation a CE would take for having sleeved barrels?

I'll have it out of the safe later today and will get specifics and a couple of pictures.

Barrels also have Briley thin wall chokes, but it doesn't seem that they would now have an impact on the value.

Thank you!

Not all CEs sell for big bucks, even when original. We saw a CE at a gun show last weekend for $1895, sold for less. Nice gun, great wood, original butt, all original gun. I can't imagine what it would have sold for if it were sleeved.

A vintage SxS with cut barrels may be worth half of the same gun with uncut barrels.

Sleeved barrels worth? I think closer to the halfway point than full value. Of course if it were sleeved by Purdy the value should be closer to full...

At best Briley chokes will not lower the value but in most cases probably do! Collectable guns are valued for high original condition.

Mark

Big Friend Ten wrote:

Collectable guns are valued for high original condition.

At best Briley chokes will not lower the value but in most cases probably do!

Mark

Understand that value is based on condition, that was the basis for this question.

Yes, typically Briley's in a classic gun would affect value, but when the barrels have already been sleeved......?

If the barrels had already been sleeved, the Brileys wouldn't matter to me. Once it is not original, it is not original. Degrees don't matter to me, unless it is in the extreme and done in very poor taste, for example, a restock with a thumb hole.

I paid pretty near full price for a 32" BE a couple years ago that had been restocked very nicely, and Briley screw choked. It is one helluva late season dove gun and duck gun. Course, it came with five S1 Briley choke tubes, and an old Ithaca trunk case, too.

SRH

That is a nice looking C Grade. I saw one this past weekend that was nice also. One of our buddies bought it for $1850. One of our posting members passed on it, only because he had one just like it. If it were sleeved and screw choked, it would have fallen into "shooter" status. Sometimes, "Shooter" status is over a thousand bucks, but I don't know why. I can buy a shooter Model B for $250 and still have a Fox.

Where are the sleeve marks? Who sleeved it? It's a great looking gun.

eightbore wrote:Where are the sleeve marks? Who sleeved it? It's a great looking gun.

Just ahead of the text on the top of the barrels.



Not sure who did the sleeving.

Have it in my shop to re-black the barrels. Left barrel is missing the blacking for about 8" on the outside edge. Blood or similar removed it.

The owner is considering selling. That is why the question on pricing.

It would be nice to know who did the work. Interesting where the barrels were cut off for the sleeve tubes. The reason I say that is, some years ago I considered having Briley do a sleeve job on a 12-gauge Fox CE with a bulged barrel. The shop foreman told me they'd have to cut the barrels in their legends, then re-engrave the missing letters on the new tubes. I decided against having Briley do the work after a really good gunsmith told me he'd do it; but then after > one year in queue he declined and returned the Fox. It's a long story that actually turned out well when the #2 barrel for that CE was later found in an attic.

Here's a 12-gauge CE barrel breech section that came in in a lot of Fox parts I got one time. It's ready for sleeving. This one is cut off between the U and the first P in "Krupp", and the remaining wall is pretty thin at the forward end = minimum of only .020" thick on both tubes. The barrel stubs have been bored to about .895" diameter for the tubes (base of a 12-gauge hull is about .805" diameter). Complicated work that's best left to a real professional. Silvers

If the bluing could be matched on the old chamber portion and the new barrels that sleeving job would be nigh on undetectable.

Utah Shotgunner, tell me that gun has short barrels, pulleeeeeze!

SRH

......absolutely fascinating. Thanks Frank.

tjw

Great posts guys! Very informative. Thanks for that info and pics Frank.

Utah Shotgunner wrote:What are your thoughts on the % hit in valuation a CE would take for having sleeved barrels?

I'll have it out of the safe later today and will get specifics and a couple of pictures.

Barrels also have Briley thin wall chokes, but it doesn't seem that they would now have an impact on the value.

Thank you!

As price is totally based on the amount a seller is willing to take and the buyer is willing to pay, the percent of hit would be hard to put a number on. The gun is very nicely done and that is a plus.

Stan Hillis wrote:If the bluing could be matched on the old chamber portion and the new barrels that sleeving job would be nigh on undetectable.

Utah Shotgunner, tell me that gun has short barrels, pulleeeeeze!

SRH

Stan,

30" is short, right? (Wasn't that LC 10ga 32"?)

Barrels have been reblacked. The joint almost disappeared. It took an extra half a dozen rusting cycles to get the black to match on the breach and barrels.