Looking for a 16 ga. Fox sterlingworth with 28” barrels. Can reach me by email jprahin@yahoo.com or pm
Thanks

I have owned 9 of them in 16 gauge. One thing you will find is that they all come with either 2-3/4" or 3" of drop at heel. The reason why I owned so many was that I was looking for one with more modern dimensions, at least 1-1/2" X 2-1/2" Stock drop. The only one I found with good dimensions was restocked...I still own it. I had a couple of the stocks bent, but they could not be bent enough to get decent dimensions.

Good Luck!

The amount of drop decreases as the barrels get longer. I have one with 32" barrels with quite shootable stock dimensions.

The DAH isn’t much of a concern for me as long as it’s not over 3”. I don’t seem to have a problem shooting them at that much drop. Thanks for the replies

check your PM's. Gil

My son has one for sale on Gunsinternational, Item number 101139993.

For RMB

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-f...un_id=101139993

Mind explaining how that works out?

In the A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogs, the Sterlingworth Brush (26") and Sterlingworth Field (28") were cataloged with 3-inch drop-at-heel, while the Sterlingworth Standard (30") and Sterlingworth Trap (32") were cataloged with 2 3/4 inch drop-at-heel.



From 1931 onward in the Savage era catalogs all barrel lengths were listed with 2 3/4 inch drop-at-heel.

OK, thanks Researcher, I thought Tyler posted that as a generalization about all shotguns, I didn't realize it was specific to Sterlys.

Still learnin'!

ttt

I'm confused about the drop question. I know of two 32" barrel Sterlingworths that had 2-7/8" and 3" of drop. I also owned at least one Sterlingworth 16 and one Sterlingworth 12 with 28" barrels and 3 inches of drop.

The 12 gauge was probably minted as a Fox "Field Gun" as opposed to a "standard" Fox. It had slightly more open choke borings (.015 and .032).

Also, the production "Brush Gun" came with cylinder and Mod borings. I've only handled one of these while I have handled 26" guns with Mod and full chokes. My two 26" guns did have 3" of drop...that's why I sold them...

Bottom line is there is a lot of variation in the many Sterlingworths available out there. The buyer should be aware and careful to get exactly what he wants.

FWIW, and it shows you one never knows, I have 2 Sterly's (late Savage made guns) that both have 2 1/2" DAH. Both have 26" barrels. One is 12 gauge and the other a 20 gauge. LOP on both is 14 1/8".

I recently let a very decent 16 ga. Philadelphia Sterly go because of the 3" drop. It might have been fine on grouse, but I wanted a predictable shooter for the SxS shoots. Tut helped me search for a 12 with more modern dimensions and a Savage/Fox 12 was found and man it shoots well for me. It's 1 5/8 x 2 1/2".

PM sent

I’m still searching if you guys can help. I’d really like to find a philly gun or an early Utica gun with philly furniture. Thanks in advance for any help

The drop at comb and heel is a fixed set of dims= laying a straight edge from the breech where the barrels close to the receiver, and thus back towards the stock's butt-- barrel length affects the pitch of the gun- usually down pitch from the muzzles.

Old school measurement for pitch- place the gun with the barrel/barrels flush to a 90% doorjamb- with the butt flat to the floor- the stand-off distance from the top rib at the muzzles to the edge of the jamb is the pitch as measured. Shape of the butt plate or recoil pad can also affect the pitch.

Many competition clays shooters prefer an almost zero pitch, whereas small game (rabbits , etc.) upland hunters will do better with a shotgun with an amount of down pitch.

This is my amateur description- best one I have ever read was Captain Paul A. Curtis's book 1934-Penn Publishing-- "Guns and Gunning"--

I have a 12 gauge L.C. Smith with two factory sets of barrels- 30" and also 28"--I have shot it a great deal over 40 years, and it fits me like a pinkie ring on a Goombah-- same stock, pad, receiver, LOP to pad from front trigger, same DAC and DAH, but measuring the down pitch using the above described "door jamb method", I get 2&1/2" downpitch for the 28" barrel set, and 3&1/8" downpitch with the 30" set of barrels in place- The DAH and DAC stays exactly the same, regardless of the barrel length.

I thought the pitch measurement was always taken at 28 "

"Many competition clays shooters prefer an almost zero pitch, whereas small game (rabbits , etc.) upland hunters will do better with a shotgun with an amount of down pitch."

Why is that?

Captain Paul A. Curtis explains it quite well in his 1934 book- If you don't have a copy, e-mail me through this website link, and I'll reply with a quote from him on this.

The other gent that commented on the "pitch always being measured from 28" barrels-- OK- answer me this-- Are All shotguns made today, or even the ones of yesterday, with 28" barrels. The pitch degree or "stand-off" in inches from a plumb surface set to a 90% base angle will vary with the barrel length- which theory I proved with my L.C. Smith with 2 sets of factory barrels of different lengths. RWTF

Probably because most of the clay targets shot (or, shot at) in competition are rising- down pitch would put the POI of the load below the rising clay (or pheasant). The possible exception might be the running rabbit target event- not sure of that, however. I'm NOT a serious SC shooter- prefer live birds awing (crows, barn pigeons)-- for my off-season practice shooting.