Fox Collectors

Here are pics of my recently completed custom upgrade of a 1913 20-ga. Sterlingworth Ejector with 30" 4-weight barrels---it is really a tribute to an all-Wisconsin based team of craftsmen who made my dream come true. Metalsmith Mark Beasland, stocker Toby Leeds, engraver Bob Strosin and John Fallon of FEI Custom Cases poured their heart and soul into this project...I am humbled by their workmanship and devotion to their craft.

The little Fox's usage will primarily be my 20-gauge skeet gun, it will also see some time in Wisconsin's grouse and woodcock coverts, for these pursuits I have chosen to have it choked .005/.009.

The gun went from this:



By these craftsmen:
Metalsmith Mark Beasland of Mosinee, WI



Stocker Toby Leeds of Fond Du Lac, WI



Engraver Bob Strosin of Wisconsin Rapids, WI



To this:

Greg, Thanks for the plug! This was a fun project. When we gunna start on a 12ga?

Mark

www.mbabllc.com

mark beasland wrote:Greg, Thanks for the plug! This was a fun project. When we gunna start on a 12ga?

Mark

www.mbabllc.com

It was indeed fun and a pleasure to have such a competent team of craftsmen creating my dream gun! We'll do a 12-ga. project when I find the perfect candidate, you'll be the 1st to know!

Here's the gun and wood I've chosen for the next project, a 1913 12-gauge Sterlingworth Ejector Pin gun with 30" 2-weight barrels. I'm tentatively planning the gun to feature a waterfowl motif engraving, round knob grip, sleek semi-beavertail forend and a damascus skeleton butt.






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Hope this does not come off the wrong way but isn't a ejector pin gun pretty rare? Wouldn't a S/W ejector (non-pin) be a cheaper option and not removing a desirable gun from circulation? I would think that your metal guy could add the dishes/ pin pretty easily.

Again, I am pretty new to all this and not trying to be a jerk or anything just thought it would be more "economical."

Your previous project is just beautiful... makes me want to find a good project gun!!

Please allow me to explain my rationale in choosing the particular guns that I have to serve as the basis for my custom upgrades. I fully understand the significance and importance of maintaining originality and have empathy to future collectors towards these scarce and desirable guns. I maintain that to a true collector a collectible gun must be: a) 100% original and b) be in "collector quality" condition. Both of my project guns, the 20-ga. 30" Sterlingworth Ejector and 12-ga. 30" Sterlingworth Ejector Pin Gun fell short on both of these criteria. How do I know? I had both guns lettered. In the case of my 20-ga. gun a previous owner had the chokes opened from F/F to .011/.018 and the frame had maybe 10-15% color remaining. In regards to the 12-ga. gun a previous owner cut the stock to install a pad, installed a mid-bead, the stock and forend had issues and there was little, if any, color remaining. Neither of these guns had dimensions anywhere close to fitting, but both of these guns had/have the qualities I was seeking as the basis for my projects: 1) Somewhat rare and unusual--something out-of-the-ordinary. 2) Perfect barrels. and 3) 100% mechanically sound.

Now I realize I may differ phylosophically from others in that I find scarcity appealing and one of the core reasons to choose a particular gun as the basis of an upgrade. If both of my guns would have been true collectible guns, in being both 100% original and in collectible quality condition I would have left them as is. However, they weren't...they are much better!

I understand your reasoning and of course every man to his own desires. The 20 ga. is something to be proud of and of course built to your dimensions and specifications. Kind of like custom ordering a Holland and Holland for less bucks and having direct input from and with the craftsmen. The thing I really like is the various craftsmen you used and their superb skills. It proves despite many cries that we don't have craftsmen like Kornbrath,Shellhammer, and the other oldtimers, nothing is farther from the truth! Having been making stocks for 50 years myself, I am very impressed with your wood selection and the craftsman who did it. Where did you get the blanks, and how many lines is the checkering? I have a Belgian 20 ga. sidelock built by Britte,with English barrels by the Andrews brothers, engraved by Prudhomme, and stocked by "Nubbs" Fashingbauer in the 1950's. It's my pride and joy even with my meager collection of Foxes. I know I will never have, and there will never be another like it! Happy building, and it is STILL a Fox.Lee.

Thank you for the kind words, Lee. Stocker Toby Leeds, as well as the other craftsmen, metalsmith/gunsmith Mark Beasland and engraver Bob Strosin provided World-class workmanship. During the entire duration of the project it was evident none of them were out make a quick buck, but rather each had my best interests at top of their minds and never lost focus of that goal.

The wood for my 20-ga. gun was purchased from Cecil Fredi of Las Vegas, NV. Upon embarking on the project I requested pics from Cecil of blanks in the $400 range, Cecil sent pics of about 5 blanks, when those weren't what I was looking for I upped my budget to blanks in the $600 range, Cecil sent pics of 5 more,when those weren't yet quite the quality I was looking for I again upped the budget, Cecil then sent me a whole disk of pics with about 50 of his best quality English blanks and you see the one I chose. I must say Cecil was very patient and a pleasure to do business while serving a very fussy customer. Toby Leeds tells me he checkered the stock and forend at 24 lpi.

The 12-ga. wood I purchased through a For Sale ad on the not board BBS from Mike McDaniel, aka "wingshooter" on the various doublegun boards. Mike lives in Flower Mound, TX.

Incidently, my father owns a custom rifle built by Fashingbauer whom hailed from our neck of the woods here in Northern Wisconsin.

Is the FEI case a 'French' fit? It is very well done.-Dick

The case is not French fit, but rather is their standard Oak & Leather Twin Lock case with ultrasuede interior lining. I did have them upgrade the case to include oak dividers and an additional lidded compartment.

bamboozler... its been 6 month... how is the pin gun project coming?

Just like most projects of this nature, things do not progress quite as quickly as you'd like them to, but as the saying goes..."the good things in life take time". This particular project is also evolving as we move along...with all the hoopla lately concerning Bo-Whoop, I've decided to change the forend style from a semi-beavertail to a longish slightly schnabled splinter, shaped the same as the forend on my 20-ga. Sterlingworth Special. In 2008 my wife and I took a trip through Alaska and we ran into a fellow, Miles Martin of Nenana, AK http://www.milesofalaska.net/ (Check him out--he's interesting as hell) who was dropped off in the bush and made a subsistance living with no anything for 25 years and then one day walked out. Miles now eeks out a living selling raw materials, one of which is mammoth ivory which reportedly had been frozen in the Alaskan tundra perma frost for some 40,000 years! So I bought a piece of this mammoth ivory from him and am having my stocker inlay a wedge of it into the forend tip ala Bo-Whoop. The gun is still with the stocker who had projected a 12-15 month turn around for him to complete. Attached are a couple of pics of the rough machined wood headed up that were taken about 6 weeks ago, so I'm assuming it's somewhat further along at this point.





I've also decided to save the damascus skeleton butt for another project and instead am now going with a steel McFarland skeleton butt which I'll probably have engraved to match the style of the rest of the engraving, again similar to that of the skeleton butt on my 20-ga. gun.

looking good!! cool addition with the mammoth tusk!

Any additional updates on things? Really interested to see how this project is progressing.

The stocker had projected a 12 to 15 month turnaround and dog-gone-it---he's going to hold to it! It is, however; progressing. Since the below attached pics were taken, the forend has been shaped and fitted to the barrels, the mammoth ivory wedge has been inlaid into the forend tip, the skeleton butt plate has been fit and the gun has been fitted to me. In addition, I've chosen a checkering design based off from Roosevelt's Fox FE with some modifications to the forend layout. I was somewhat concerned with the balance of this gun as with its original stock and 2-weight barrels had a pronounced weight forward bias---too much for my tastes. But now with its new, somewhat denser wood, additional length and skeleton butt has resulted in a balance point just a little forward of the hinge pin and now feels lively and nimble in my hands. Like I had mentioned previously, projects evolve---and this one is still evolving. I haven't decided on just what I'm going to have done in terms of the engraving---we'll just have to wait and see. Stay tuned...