doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fox HE without warning on barrel flats?

Run With The Fox. First I would like to state that I am no where near the authority on Fox guns, many are much more knowledgeable than me. I have only handled one Becker gun and it was a 12ga. I did not measure the bores or chambers.
Bill is correct measuring the frame is the only positive way to determine the frame size. I also agree that a H frame gun with standard bores documented as 8 plus lbs would be of interest to most Fox collectors.

Thank you Craig for the gracious and humbling answer. No one man can know everything, and it is nice to see you yield to others with expertise in that area. I spoke with PGCA Lifer Larry Frey this past Sunday, after he and others returned from the Greenwich Gun Show. He mentioned that the AH Fox Collectors were adjacent to the PGCA and some good natured "ribbing" went on, and that the show was well attended. IMO we need that spirit of brotherhood with all the various Collector Associations.

I bought my Sterlingworth 20 several years ago from a private party, hoping to use it for doves. We didn't get a legal dove season, it was defeated in a Nov. election ballot issue- I think one of the many reasons AH Fox guns have such a loyal following is the great history of some famous men who used them so well- Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, P.J. Hindemarsh, Henry Bartholomew, Hal Bowen Howard, and of course, Nash Buckingham.

To complicate things, some few HE Grade Super Foxes were made on the standard 12 gauge SIZE frame that measures 2.340-2.350" across the breech balls/fences. In comparison, the heavy 0-size frame will measure about 2.420".

One such standard frame Super I own, was "ordered light" and it left the factory at 8 pounds, 4 ounces. And it does have the regular HE frame engraving, and the later-era Super Fox bores at .738". The record card for this gun shows it as an HE.

Regarding the gun in question here, I agree it may be outside the typical HE grade/Super Fox parameters. Just two observations for whatever they're worth: the H stamp on the barrel flats is not the usual special font, and its 3" stamping is also atypical. IMHO. Silvers

I previously mentioned that the gun in question may have "Been to Pennsylvania". Apparently, from what Frank states, it has. I wonder who bought it?

Frank, to whom does your standard frame HE letter?

Bill, I sent you the gent's name by email. Frank Silvers

Thanks.

One of my hunting companions, a now retired Judge of Probate, belongs to the Fox Collectors Assn. I was at his home today and he showed me the re-up card he received. Even though I am not a member and only own one Fox Sterlingworth shotgun, I was very impressed with the nice tribute paid to the late Michael McIntosh. Very well said indeed.

Without trying to steal their thunder, the gist is- the first 15 members who re-up for a 5 year tour of duty received a signed and sealed copy of the last edition of Michael's fine book on the AH Fox guns. I have his best guns and his book on shotgunning, I hold Michael to have been as much of as researcher and first rate gun writer on the Fox guns as I hold the now late Edward Muderlak on the Parkers.

What a shame we lost both these first rate gunners and writers in 2010. My friend has a 12 BE Fox with 30" Krupp barrels, and a 16 AE with 28" Chromox barrels, both DT and PG stocks-excellent wood to metal and mechanics, I can see why Michael considered them to have been the best boxlock doubles ever made in the USA.