Forend irons on "Pin" Guns (extractor)

[gilrussell]

I just stumbled into a 12 ga Pin Gun marked "Sterlingworth Company, Philadelphia, PA USA". It came in without a forend iron. I plan to restock it and am unclear which forend iron I need. It is clearly not the same as the Fox Sterlingworth forends,nor the graded irons but I think there are at least two other forend irons out there for Sterlingworths. (Non ejector gun.) Thank you for any assistance. Gil Russell

[OH Osthaus]

what is the serial number?

in the McIntosh book discusses the variations

an early leaf spring type

and

the coil Kramer foreend from late 1910 on - and has some patent drawings


mine from 1911 is still incredibly tight

[Researcher]

The early The Sterlingworth Co. guns from 1910 used a forearm with the Baker J-spring type latch --





By 1911 when the Sterlingworth became an A.H. Fox Gun Co. marked gun, they went to using the J.C. Kremer & A.H. Fox Patent No. 1,029,374 with the spring loaded roller in the forearm iron and a fixed forearm loop on the barrels. However, the next year Parker Bros. introduced their Trojan Grade using a very similar forearm fastening. They worked out a deal with the A.H. Fox Gun Co., and Fox went to using their F.T. Russell Patent No. 1,029,229 where the roller is fixed in the forearm iron and the coil spring loaded catch is in the forearm loop on the barrels. This was the latch they were using on ejector guns, and remained the latch used on Sterlingworths to the end.