Fox Collectors

Good solid Fox Sterly that seems to have twin ivories as well. Looks like the gun has never been apart. You did well Dave.

I can't thank you enough for your help, Tom. I so appreciate well made guns that allow me to shoot to the best of my abilities, and what a bargain! This old Fox has found a home.

I'll just add a big shoutout to Fin2Feather, Stan, and Researcher for stepping up and helping me out.

I really have no interest in collecting, but this is more than just another shotgun to me, it's a Fox. In that spirit I'm not going to modify my 16 gauge Sterlingworth to fit me and it will find another owner.

Good find Dave, it has the Philly features. Enjoy

Larry, I'm a Fox dummy, but always wanting to learn. What are the Philly features?

Capped pistol grip, shape of both the safety and the top lever on your gun are the earlier style.

Thanks, fullchoke16. I was thinking the toplever and cap because they are like my Philly 16, but I'm not up to speed on the safeties.

Turkey: Do you suppose this gun was shipped from the factory with the floor plate screw offset ?

Dave Erickson wrote:Larry, I'm a Fox dummy, but always wanting to learn. What are the Philly features?

Dave,

Also, the fore end wood on the Utica guns is usually somewhat wider than the more tapered Philly Sterlingworth's.

Also on the 12 gauge Utica Sterlingworth's, the inletting of the stock at the top tang right and left side are squared. The Philly Sterlingworth 12's are rounded where the stock inlets to the top of the receiver.

16 and 20 gauge Philly Sterlingworth's are squared off at the top tang, as are the Utica guns.

12 gauge Utica Sterlingworth SN 136307 pictured below showing the top tang inletting and the wider fore end wood.

Jolly Bill, thank you. I like knowing these things and it's interesting how nothing is cut and dried about these guns. I was looking at the other thread thread showing all of the safety styles, and the these subtle differences in the guns make it all the more interesting. I bought this gun to shoot, and it looks like I got a couple bonus Philadelphia features in the deal. My mind is starting to push ahead to our early duck season. I walk in and hunt a tributary of the Mississippi River, and it's mostly in timber with woodies and teal coming from most any direction, mallards now and then. This Fox with the Kent bismuth would not only be fun, it would come up and get on quicker than the auto I normally use.

Dave, I was a little suspect about the barrels on this gun when you sent me the specs and now that I see your picture #3 I'm even more so. The right barrel appears to have a greater diameter then the right breechball. The barrels certainly appear to be perfectly tight and on-face for a lifetime of shooting, but I don't believe the gun originally left Utica with those barrels. Here is a picture of my Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector Brush with a serial number less then 60 higher then the serial number you provided me for your gun.
Would be nice to see some good pictures of the barrel flats of your gun. A letter on the gun would be great, but with the experiences folks have reported about getting a letter from Savage, I can't recommend that.

Good eye. I didn’t even notice it. Let me know if you need any different views. Not sure how those became upside down.

The right barrel is indeed a little proud.

Guess we'll never know for sure who did the work, but the new serial number stamped on the barrel flats looks to my eyes to be in the same style font that Savage was using for barrel flat serial numbers from 133xxx range onwards.
Don't know why Savage used the squarish one on the watertable serial number and the sloping one on the barrel flats serial number, but they did, except for Fox-Sterlingworth Wildfowls which exhibit the squarish 1 in both places?!?

I certainly couldn't read the original serial number of the barrels through that crosshatching. Is there a serial number stamped on the back of the extractor? If so can you read it?