Sterlingworth wiggle revisited

[whisperbow]

Hey guys,
Don't mean to bug you guys but I just examined the gun again and discovered the wiggle only occurs when I snap the action shut. If I hold on to the lever, close the action gently then bring the lever left it stops but a little extra tug causes it to move left a little more and the barrels are tight. In other words if you snap it shut it doesn't seat all the way. I am checking the tightness with the forearm off and if I pull the barrels away from the receiver there is no movement so the hinge pin area is good. I guess it just needs to be broke down and cleaned to get it to seat all the way? Is there a latch in the locking mechanism that is stuck? Thanks in advance for your comments.

[SPE33]

Snapping a gun shut is one of the worst things you can do to one of these fine old guns.Holding on to the lever while raising the barrels back into position is the correct way to close your gun.Saw a home-grown video the other day where the fellow just held the gun in one hand and snapped the barrels closed.An 1890's Lefever.....I cringed.

[Silvers]

I have to say I respectfully disagree. I always snap Foxes shut when loading them with live shells so the bolt gets max camming contact on the barrel extension slot. Otherwise the bolt is almost closed but not quite, and the recoil forces will try to open the barrels which stresses the locking mechanism.

My CE Fox "Matilda" was formerly owned by a Fox factory competition shooter and who knows how many rounds she fired? I've put probably 10k rounds thru her on sporting courses and the lever is still quite right. I'll add here that I use grease on the hinge pin and the barrel extension slot, and remove/replace it every time I shoot and clean her.

Additionally I've never seen any genuine Fox factory advice in print, urging users to ease the lever closed. Have any of you?

frank

[whisperbow]

Frank,
Thanks for your comments. Based on what you said, why does my gun wiggle when snapped shut vs closing it slow and making sure bolt is locked? I have to decide whether I keep this gun and if so what fix other than "off face" will allow it to snap shut tight.
Si

[Silvers]

Whisper, that's hard to say without checking the linkage from the lever to the bolt, how the barrels sit on the frame bar (watertable), also where contact is made by the locking bolt on the barrel extension surface by using something like machinist Dykem. Something is amiss which is perhaps causing the bolt to rebound when snapped shut versus closing softly, but without your gun in hand there's no way to determine root cause(s).

Best advice I can give you is to have the Sterly evaluated by a good Fox man.

[Brian Dudley]

My question for SPE33 would be... If levers are meant to be held open until the barrels are seated, then why do nearly all (American) guns have trips???

There is a difference between saying what you THINK should be done from a care standpoint and how something is DESIGNED to operate.

[SPE33]

I stand corrected by people that have much more expertise than myself.You don't have to yell Brian.

[kgb]

Only source I've read about easing levers closed is from a guy named Michael McIntosh.

[vaturkey]

Apparently this has been a question for a long long time:

http://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthre ... 340&page=1

[Stan Hillis]

Only source I've read about easing levers closed is from a guy named Michael McIntosh.

Same writer who once wrote that choke, in shotguns, is obsolete.

SRH

[kgb]

Forgot about that! You're right, Stan, he was an idiot. I guess.

[Sporrns]

I fully agree with what Frank said because what he said is exactly what a top Fox gunsmith told me after repairing a locking bolt / rib extension fit problem on my HE SF. As he explained it, the momentum generated by the gun closing (with the top lever unrestrained by a thumb) allows full travel and complete contact of the rotary bolt surface through the rib extension cutout over and across the sloping angle on the opposite side of the rib extension. As he put it, "helping" the closure by holding the lever back with your thumb actually retards and in some cases prevents full contact of the two surfaces. Don't slam it closed, but let it snap decisively. Kevin

[Stan Hillis]

Forgot about that! You're right, Stan, he was an idiot. I guess.

Well, I won't go that far. I have two copies of his Fox book, and refer to it often, even though I know there are errors in it. He was a very good writer, and I enjoyed most of what he wrote, but he got a bit carried away with that article in Shooting Sportsman that was entitled something like "Three Things We Can Do Without", and one of the things was choke boring. He was a contributing member to the DGJ forum at the time, and I asked him about that. He wouldn't respond.

Even though he wrote some stuff I didn't agree with, I still hate it that he's gone.

SRH

[kgb]

If the eyeroll is retracted, I must do likewise. I thought the article was interesting, and believe there is some merit in the idea. I read much of what he was writing at the time, can't say it was everything he put out, but i didn't see him going around pushing the idea at every chance so I never took him to be absolute/totalitarian about it. He seemed to write on occasion outside of the lines you'd expect to find. His contribution to Bare November Days (or was it Come October?) wasn't strictly aligned with the themes of the rest of the book's authors, maybe he was trying to bend his work in another direction then as well.

[Scott]

If I am looking at a gun and it is unloaded, I hold the lever back when closing it. If It is loaded and I am shooting it I always allow the bolt to snap shut as designed.
I have never had a problem doing it that way.