doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Finest Gun in the World"

The Fox doesn't seem to rate as highly as others when members discuss their best and favourites, as they've been doing lately.

And yet, here's Michael McIntosh on Page 81 of his A.H. Fox "The Finest Gun in the World":


“No Fox gun--indeed, no American gun---has ever approached the perfection of a London best nor the finest products of the various European trades, but by the same token, no boxlock action built anywhere exceeds the simplicity or reliability or sheer mechanical excellence of a Fox. No British or European boxlock is any better, and no American gun can even come close---not Parker nor Ithaca nor the Winchester 21 nor even Uncle Dan Lefever’s great Automatic Hammerless.”

Mr. McInstosh quoted John Wilkes’s opinion of the quality a Fox XE on the rack at his London store: “Oh, quite good. The Fox and the Ithaca single trap are the only guns you chaps ever made that are as good as guns ought to be.”

What think thee?

Don't drink and publish?

Perhaps just a touch of Falstaffian hyperbole shared by AH and Mister Mac.

jack

Michael doesn't get out enough.

I've noticed a trend amongst gun owners:

1) Buy a bunch of a certain type of gun - this can be a make, model, or even a variation. A Parker with Bernard steel barrels is an example.

2) Increase desirability by telling anyone who will listen how their gun of choice is special, better, etc.

Of course MacIntosh will tell you the Fox gun handles best, shoots best, and cures cancer - he owns them. His book might be a great PR effort but let's not forget at the end of the day he's offering his subjective opinion.

If I wrote a book about Corvettes and included reference to the Viper being a superior car, what would that do sales of my book?

MM bought a Parker first. Kept it for a while and disposed of it because it didn't fit him well. Then he apparently discovered Fox. Methinks it fit him well and he shot it well.

He still bought a Parker first!

Read the words. What part of the statement do you take issue with?

Name a simpler, more reliable boxlock.

Book wasn't called "American Guns Held in Good Opinion by British Gunmaker". But I'm glad to see that Ithaca SBT also met Mr. Wilkes' standards. Apparently hammer toes do break (see recent thread offering weldup) and cocking rods wear producing primer-bound strikers, and to paraphrase another Shakespearean besides Mac and Falstaff: "Do I not become loose like any gun? Have I not rivets thru my cheeks and lever left like any gun? However, most of the really decrepit ones do close and get off a shot, a record of basic performance which I'm told Parkers fail to match.

jack

Let me tell you something.

I owned a Chevy last year. I bought it for $300. It was a 1948 model. It burned oil like crazy. It had rust holes the size of basketballs. The seats were lumpy and caused my rear end to grow fatigued after only a few miles. The tires were out of round and vibrated the whole car, and the holes in the roof leaked water on my head when it rained.

I got rid of it, and bought my first Chrysler. A 1948 Town and Country Woodie convertible in mint condition for only $105,000. I feel like a king when I drive it. She goes smooth down the road, starts every time, and girls I hardly know want to have sex with me just because I own it.

I can speak from sound experience that Chevy's are junk and in no way equal to Chryslers.

Now then, who wants to buy my book?

When you have Sterlingworths selling for more than lower graded guns of other makes - its worth a mention.
The jury maybe still out with those only known to a select few.
Some so obscure, they rate the huh/hmmm factor and a don't say spit.
Hard to get a good Fox these days, not so with Parker and LC Smith as they linger - they've become tiresome even to the old gunshow farts.