Fox Collectors

Just picked up a first year 16 Ga with 30" barrels and ejectors. Mirror bores, plum reciever and solid wood.

serial# 350XXX

How many 30" Ejector Sterlingworths do you think are out there.
me thinks this isnt very common.
Seems like most common guns are 12 Ga with 30" or 28"
16 & 20 with 28 or 26"

Nobody knows because the records have never been tabulated. I'd think a 30-inch barrel 16-gauge Sterlingworth Ejector would be pretty sweet.

From my recorded observations, far and away the most common 12-gauge Sterlingworths are 30-inch barrel guns with 28-inch barrel guns coming in a fairly distant second, followed by 26-inch barrels and 32-inchers being the most scarce. Savage must have had a bunch of 26-inch 12-gauge tubes in inventory in the late 1930s as all the 160xxx and 161xxx serial number Fox-Sterlingworths I've recorded are 26-inchers. In 16-gauge Sterlingworths I'd say 28-inch by far the most common with 26-inch and 30-inchers about tied for second and 32-inchers being least common. In 20-gauge Sterlingworths again 28-inchers seem most common with 26-inchers a fairly close second, 30-inchers a distant third and 32-inchers a very distant fourth. I find long barrels seem to show up more frequently on graded smallbore Fox doubles then on Sterlingworths.

Over many years of looking for nice Foxes I've only come across one 16 gauge, 30" ejector SW and that was a later Utica gun. I know that doesn't answer your question too objectively, but it underscores Reseacher's well detailed reply. As an aside, that Russell patent ejector system is about as foolproof as you can find. Almost all old ejector Foxes work from the get-go. Occasionally you'll come across one that doesn't eject but usually a good cleaning of the machining cuts in the frame will get them working again.

I think you found a gem! Silvers

Bri- I picked up a 16ga Sterly, 367,345 about a year ago...30" with ejectors....plain vanilla other than that but lots o'condition....should be a fine pheasant gun, great "later" dimensions. Well, now we know there were atleast three!! Congrats on a nice early piece. Tom

Probably a decade ago there was a 16-gauge 30-inch Fox-Sterlingworth NIB at the Syracuse show, but I'm far from my notes and don't recall off the top of my head if it was an ejector gun.

Was that the one at Galazan's? The one I went to see today during lunch, but it was sold already?

Our good "never had a screw turned" and "best ever found" friend from Pennsylvania, , has had a 16ga. 30" Sterlingworth Ejector listed for many months at $3795. Don't know if he actually has it, but he's advertising it.

I found it up in Maine. Also found a clean 20 ga SW, Utica gun.
saw in another place a 28" SW 16 Ga with straight grip and BTFE but it was not a S&U. If it was I would have snapped it up. It was a PG conversion, had the standard pointed end tang on the guard. Oh well. And it was a philly gun!!!