Fox Collectors

I'm a new member to the forum from Utah with a couple of AE Grades, a 12 and 20. I'm not really a collector more of an accumulator that likes good side by sides.

The 12 has 32" barrels both choked a very tight .040" of restriction. I'm curious as to how rare 32" barrels were. The chambers measure 2 5/8".

The little 20 has 26" barrels, a single trigger and beavertail fore end. It has a vintage Hunter pad I assume was added. The wood is pretty decent. Anyway here are a few pics.



12 AE


Average wood on the 12 AE


The little 20 has 26" barrels, a single trigger and beavertail fore end. It has a vintage Hunter pad I assume was added. The wood is pretty decent. Anyway here are a few pics.

The 20 AE


20 AE butt


20 AE

SPB,

........what a nice pair of guns......great pics...thanks. Great little 20ga with special features....most of my favorite options in one package.

tjw

Very nice guns indeed. They are both pretty hard to come by. The 20 for sure with the beavertail.

Bill extremely nice and uncommon perhaps even rare pair of Foxes. What is the serial number of the 20 gauge and how is it choked? I have a 16 set up just like your 20 and it is choked between cylinder and improved cylinder and about light modified which puts it right in the Skeet In and out (Skeet 1&2) chokes.

VERY NICE++++ Thanks for sharing the pictures are great.

Twice Barrel wrote:Bill extremely nice and uncommon perhaps even rare pair of Foxes. What is the serial number of the 20 gauge and how is it choked? I have a 16 set up just like your 20 and it is choked between cylinder and improved cylinder and about light modified which puts it right in the Skeet In and out (Skeet 1&2) chokes.

It is choked improved cylinder and modified with 26" barrels. The little gun weighs just under 6 lbs. and the length of pull is a little on the short side; so, my much better half has taken it over.

[/quote] It is choked improved cylinder and modified with 26" barrels. The little gun weighs just under 6 lbs. and the length of pull is a little on the short side; so, my much better half has taken it over.[/quote]

Now thats love!

For thirty years she been my hunting partner, she deserves a little Fox.

The serial number on the 20 is 203206 and the 12 is 26963.

Very nice pair of AE-Grades.

You can get factory research letters on your guns from the Savage historian --

http://www.foxcollectors.com/ah_fox/con ... tters.html

Also, dues paying members of the AHFCA are entitled to one free look up of a graded gun production card from our photocopied records, per year, with additional lookups for $25. One of the board members makes a jpeg of the card and emails it to the requesting member.

While 12-gauge 32-inch barrels are not as common as 30- or 28-inch barrels, they certainly are not "rare." 32-inch 20-gauge barrels are very rare. As far as I know, no one has gone through all the 12-gauge A-/AE-grade records to see how many of each barrel length was made.

FOX CHAMBERS --

The only two A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogues, that I have seen, that state chamber lengths are the 1913 and 1914. They both state 12-gauge guns are regularly chambered for 2 3/4 - inch shells, 16-gauge 2 9/16 – inch shells and 20-gauge 2 1/2 - inch shells. That being said, virtually every 12-gauge Ansley H. Fox gun made in Philadelphia (other than the HE-Grade Super-Fox) that I've run a chamber gauge in shows about 2 5/8 - inch. The chambers of unmolested 16-gauge guns seem to run about 2 7/16 inch and 20-gauge guns a hair over 2 3/8 inch. A very few graded guns were ordered with longer chambers. Savage began stating chambered for 2 ¾ inch shells in their 1938 Fox catalogues.

All this being said there is a good body of evidence that back in those days chambers were held about 1/8 inch shorter than the shells for which they were intended. In the recently published book The Parker Story the Remington vintage specification sheets on pages 164 to 169 call for a chamber 1/8-inch shorter than the shell for which it is intended. Also in the 1930's there were a couple of articles in The American Rifleman (July 1936 and March 1938) on the virtue of short chambers. A recent issue of The Double Gun Journal carried an article on tests showing no significant increase in pressure from shooting shells in slightly short chambers. IMHO I don't much sweat that 1/8-inch in 12-gauge guns. On the other hand when one gets a 20-gauge chambered at 2 3/8-inch likely intended for 2 1/2-inch shells I do worry about folks firing 2 3/4-inch shells in such guns.

SPB,

I see you are no stranger to a camera........nice subjects, nice composition, nice pix.

tjw

MARSHFELLOW wrote:SPB,

I see you are no stranger to a camera........nice subjects, nice composition, nice pix.

tjw

Thank you. I make my living as a photographer.

Researcher thank you for the reminder on the 1/8" short chamber spec. I'm also a member over on that Parker forum and shoot one of those old time bomb Damascus barreled Parker GH 12 gauges with 2 5/8" chambers with 2 3/4" shells. I have all my fingers still but one never knows.

Slowpokebill wrote:For thirty years she been my hunting partner, she deserves a little Fox.

Which one's the Fox?

Slowpokebill wrote:For thirty years she been my hunting partner, she deserves a little Fox.

Ya'll must have been using bb guns when you were kids, or you folks have something special in that water your drinking.

You are an outstanding photographer! Were the gun pictures taken outside with natural lighting?