Fox Collectors

Did Fox ever build a 16 gauge pin gun? Seller claims it is a 16....Gun also has ejectors. I asked if it had been sleeved but have not gotten a reply. Thanks.... SXS ohio

Cat's out of the bag on a public forum. If it is a 16 and not sleeved maybe it's an experimental or a one timer done up by/for a factory employee.

Fifty-four years of playing with Fox doubles and I haven't recorded such a thing. However, in my tables of observed Sterlingworths I haven't recorded a gun in the first 890 16-gauge Sterlingworth serial numbers. I have recorded some very low serial number 20-gauges and they have smooth hinge pins.

I have some data on 3503xx (not the gun cited here). From my spreadsheet: 30-inch Sterly Ejector gun choked 28 & 36 points and with a typical dressed-off hinge pin. Weight 6 - 9.6 and 2-3/4" DAH. My notes show the barrels were "probably 2-weights".

Dave I'll PM the complete s/n for your records.

frank

This one is 61652 No word back as yet about correctness? SXS Ohio

The serial number on the gun in question is a conventional 12-gauge serial number. However, they are stamped on the watertable and the forearm iron in different locations than on my Sterlingworth Ejector "pin gun" about 500 numbers later. A picture of the breech end of the barrels with a couple of 16-gauge cartridges in the chambers would certainly settle things, and if "right" would really stimulate bidding!!

Its a 12 gauge. I emailed the seller and told him he was incorrect with stating it was a 16. He came back and said I was right. He just updated the listing.

That's interesting Tom. Thanks for posting. I'd emailed the seller after spotting the advert on Sunday and he came back yesterday and wrote, it's definitely a 16. I'd guess that a few dozen questions on the gun since then got him to check with some shells. Hahaha.

Frank you are exactly right. He said he thought it was a 16 gauge based on the looking at the ends of the barrels. He confirmed it was a 12 gauge by finally dropping a shell in the chamber.

Another internet expert

Another early 16-gauge Sterly: 3502xx was converted to a 45/70 double rifle by Roe Clark Jr. Original ship date was 5/20/1913 to Shapleigh Hardware as a Sterlingworth "Field" choked Mod & Full. I have pics of the gun in my files but can't find them right now. Again I'll send the full s/n to Dave.

frank

I saw such a gun/rifle on Courtney Smith's tables at the Great Southern Weapons Fair at the Virginia Fair Grounds at Richmond, maybe a quarter century ago. Didn't get a serial number though.