Fox Collectors

I had a very slow Fox accumulation year in 2019, I bought a near mint A grade 12ga 30" from a family anxious to get ride of grandpa's Fox. I did sell two very nice Super Foxes and gifted a real nice Sterlingworth 20/26 and a nice CE 12/30 to my son. Still looking for a straight grip Super and my holy grail SF 31736 a C engraved with ducks.

I know that Craig asks this question every year and I’ve been dreading it because I was unable to make a deal this year.

I was able to put two more in my safe.Found a Utica made 20 gauge A-grade,26” barrels and a straight grip. Also picked up a Super with 32” inch barrels and 3” chambers.It picked up some additional engraving after it left Philadelphia but the price was right.

I reduced the collection by quite a few but couldn't pass these up. Wife lets me buy if I keep showing a net reduction.

1. Skeet & Upland 12-gauge with 32-inch barrels, first one I've ever heard of and probably one of a kind, card shows someone at the factory was likely involved
2. FW King's Fox J-Grade SBT gun written about here elsewhere
3. Earlier 12-gauge Sterlingworth Ejector 30 incher sent to Utica for conversion to straight grip, beavertail forend and Kautzky SS trigger, double proofed Philly and Savage. This was an eastern shore ducker.
4. Super nice Savage Fox Model B-ST Chicopee gun in 410 to make a brace with another one I own

Other Makers
5. Screamer Ithaca Nitro Model 4 Double Trap and Waterfowl gun, 32 incher with vent rib; the Model 4 was a contemporary of the Super-Fox and made with a special high-topped frame for the VR, only about 230 ever made and virtually unknown today
6. Unfired LC Smith 32-inch Field Grade Long Range/3-inch, earlier one with outrageous case colors ..… also makes a pair with another LCS 32/3-inch Long Range almost as nice

Just one Fox ......... a 28" barreled 20 ga. Sterlingworth Ejector. Destined to become a dedicated bobwhite and woodcock "using gun".

Other makes:

L C Smith 3E with 32" barrels and 3" chambers, ventilated rib, btfe, and HOT.
Parker 16/20 two gauge DHE with 32" barrels in each gauge.

Merry CHRISTmas!

SRH

Craig
I was hoping that you got the Super straight stock that just sold this past week being that i missed out on it by just a few hours. But i did accumulate 2 more Super's this year 1 being a sweet 20 ga and a very nice CE 12 with a straight stock.

1. Early C grade 12 gauge. Needs a new stock unfortunately

2. Sterlingworth 12 gauge 32" barrels. Great gun

3. Catalog with Lyn Bogue Hunt cover.

Dennis: Missed the SF straight grip never saw it??? Was it an auction?? Craig

AH Fox CE 20g
Parker 20g VHE
Browning Sweet 16
The Fox came from Vintage Firearms. Jay took a gun in very poor condition and turned it into a beauty . New wood, bluing, case color,.... I never thought I would warm up to a reconditioned gun, but every time I have it out I love it more.

I was lucky enough to get a 16 gauge fox sterlingworth with 28" barrels, modified and full chokes, the gun still has some case colors left and its in very good condition, and it was one made in philadelphia. Then I just purchased another 16 gauge sterlingworth in very good to excellent condition with 26" barrels and skeet and modified the gun is in such nice original condition with ejectors made in utica, one of the later models, built in 1933 I believe. I have been using that as my grouse gun now. Earlier in the year I purchased a parker vh 16 gauge with 26" barrels improved cylinder and improved modified barrels, this shotgun was completely redone, I had a hard time dragging it through the brush and briars at first, but now I have decided that guns are made to hunt with. The stocks are neutral on the fox shotguns, the parker stock is 1/16 bent for a left hander, my left handed friend likes that gun. I told him anytime he wants that gun we can make it happen with a trade or whatever he wants to do. He is one of the guys who helped my wife and I so much with training our dog. He likes neutral stocks, or ones cast for left handers, he can usually tell by shouldering them, I cannot tell that. He likes the foxes too with neutral cast stocks. I had one of my new hunting friends who works at a gun shop take all the measurements for me, chokes, barrel lengths, stock cast etc. That was interesting, I learned a lot that day.

Life has a way of slipping by and unless you make the effort, you find yourself wishing you had done this or that. Something always comes up to make plans seem impossible to come to fruition. Well, last year I almost did not make it through a bought of West Nile Virus which developed into Eastern Equine Encephalitis. It kicked my can but I made it through to the other side and made a complete recovery.

As we slipped into 2019 I made the decision to live life to the fullest as best I could and go for it when I could to add to my meager collection. My two sons love to hunt but are both new in their careers and marriages. They grew up as most kids do today playing Football, Lacrosse, Soccer, Baseball etc...But I always made sure we had time to hunt together. They hunt with me now when they can but I wanted to make sure that I gave it serious consideration as to what kind of legacy I left to them. I was lucky to fill some gaps in my want list and went after interesting opportunities, always with an eye to completing pairs for me as well as how my two sons might either hunt with me or divvy what the old man had in his safe when the time comes.

Anyways, I had a chance to complete a 16/20 gauge set of Turnbull restored Fox Sterlingworth's, a 16/12 gauge set of Fox B's, a 12/16 gauge set of Fox XE's and a restored Crown Grade LC Smith 16 and a 4E LC Smith 20. Last year I also added a consecutively serial numbered pair of Browning O/U's in 16 gauge with custom DG5 engraving. I think my sons will be in a good position to pass on a legacy of love for fine upland guns, especially for Foxes. (I put the 2019 adds in red)

I wish the pictures were better but they are all I have.

I had fun chasing down these guns and I'm looking forward to possibly more in 2020 but the tank is getting dry, the well almost empty, and my wife and daughter are planning a wedding (GULP!) so I squeezed in what I could in 2019. LOL!!

Roger glad to hear your medical issues are behind you, life can really throw you some curve balls. I have one son who lives close by and has gotten the hunting bug. I bought him an RBL 12 ga a few years back and it kind of sat until he bought a black lab. This year I gifted him a 20ga Sterlingworth and a CE 12ga 30", both real nice guns. I believe he will carry on the hunting and to a less extent the gun collecting hobby legacy. You bought some nice guns in 19 that were well deserved and your sons will be very appreciative. You got it right keep buying!! Craig

I added a few but two really special ones . Both CE Grade 16's with 30" tubes . One a single trigger and the other double triggers . Both great deals , I'm ashamed to tell what I paid for them . Both are currently with Dan Rossiter for a complete redo . I hope to have them back this time next year.

Very glad you're past the health issues, Roger. Beautiful additions.

Merry CHRISTmas!

SRH

Roger, I too am so happy for you and your family. Significant life events surely have a way of changing our attitudes on things. Nice guns!

So far three gents have written asking for more info on my Lefever Nitro Model 4. I have only one pic on my phone and I'll post it here. Briefly, it's called the Lefever Double Barrel Vent Rib Trap Gun. First ones were shipped in November 1929 (bad timing with the start of the Depression) and it only lasted a few years. 203 guns made with 32-inch barrels and 37 with 30's. Mine is a 32 with double triggers. Ithaca also promoted them for long range waterfowl hunting and they had overbored barrels and super tight chokes (~50 thou) like the Super-Fox. Walt Snyder has an article on them titled The Elusive Ithaca in the Spring 2012 DGJ if you have that issue. I found this one in September. I'd planned to do an article comparing the Lefever against a Super-Fox and a LC Smith Long Range, but that's another one in the air right now.

Here she is along with a special "Super Twelve" Fox A with 32-inch/1-weights and factory 3-inch chambers. That Hawkins pad was furnished on the Model 4.