Fox Collectors

After reading quite a bit on the forum and in a search of a side by side field gun, I am happily posting as a new Fox Owner! Brought my Sterlingworth home over the weekend. After searching around, I fell into a deal at a local shop for this 1922 12 bore. 30" barrels, choked full/full. I plan to either have the chokes opened up to imp/mod or experiment with spreader wads as this will be my primary field gun now. I shouldered the gun and it fit me perfectly.The checkering on the grip was altered at some point, but that didn't make me walk away. Can't wait to get some birds in my vest with this gun! Photos via the link, couldn't get them to post right (will work on that!) Don't mind the messy fly tying desk...

Https://imgur.com/gallery/eV6vX29

Congratulations. You'll have fun with it.

Congrats! Enjoy!

Excellent. Nice sxs. My first Fox is being delivered tomorrow. I feel like a child waiting for Christmas.

Tazman wrote:Excellent. Nice sxs. My first Fox is being delivered tomorrow. I feel like a child waiting for Christmas.

Oh I know the feeling! I was very excited to stumble upon the gun in the shop. A little cleaning and choke work and this gun will be a shooter!

Welcome jheuy and enjoy your new Fox. Do yourself and the gun a favor by shooting your new gun as is, before you mess with the chokes. Once you remove the chokes there is no putting the metal back in place. Trust me, you'll grow to like the tight chokes.

DarylC wrote:Welcome jheuy and enjoy your new Fox. Do yourself and the gun a favor by shooting your new gun as is, before you mess with the chokes. Once you remove the chokes there is no putting the metal back in place. Trust me, you'll grow to like the tight chokes.

I'll definitely shoot it before doing anything with the chokes. I was thinking that the full/full may be too tight for grouse, rabbits, and pheasant. Thoughts?

For pheasants and rabbits no, the full choke will work fine. As far as grouse go I'm not so sure I'd want to lug a 30" 12 through grouse cover regardless of the chokes.

DarylC wrote:For pheasants and rabbits no, the full choke will work fine. As far as grouse go I'm not so sure I'd want to lug a 30" 12 through grouse cover regardless of the chokes.

Originally was looking for a 28" barrel gun, but couldn't pass the deal for an extra 2" haha grouse woods in the northeast aren't always too bad

DarylC wrote:For pheasants and rabbits no, the full choke will work fine. As far as grouse go I'm not so sure I'd want to lug a 30" 12 through grouse cover regardless of the chokes.

Yes, that is a big gun for grouse, but if you shoot it well, it really doesn't matter. Before our season closed in Michigan, I went grouse hunting with a Fox choked Full/Full, but I had it loaded with RST #9 spreaders. I know from experience that those shells will put it pretty close to "IC". Unfortunately , I never flushed a bird so I have nothing dead to validate my strategy. Maybe next year.

Jeff S wrote:

DarylC wrote:For pheasants and rabbits no, the full choke will work fine. As far as grouse go I'm not so sure I'd want to lug a 30" 12 through grouse cover regardless of the chokes.

Yes, that is a big gun for grouse, but if you shoot it well, it really doesn't matter. Before our season closed in Michigan, I went grouse hunting with a Fox choked Full/Full, but I had it loaded with RST #9 spreaders. I know from experience that those shells will put it pretty close to "IC". Unfortunately , I never flushed a bird so I have nothing dead to validate my strategy. Maybe next year.

Good to know! I actually just ordered some RST spreaders in 7.5 shot to try out. If they open that much maybe I'll do some handloads with spreader wads or spreader inserts and leave the chokes alone. Thanks for the info!