doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com A.H. Fox & V. Sarasqueta Refurb 6000 miles South.

After much wait and travel these two 20 Ga projects have come to (partial) fruition.

The A.Fox AE 20 Ga. serial N�202207 was obtained in Santiago from an internet advertisement late March. It came in bad shape, barrels (26" and N�3) needed blacking and bore polishing, wood was not original and not to Fox standards. Gun register paper work proved a nightmare not worth to mention in this forum.

The aim was to apply a limited refurbisment, in accordance to local skills and to the gun�s grade and commercial value. Reblacking, engraving-retouching, new straight trigger guard and new wood were deemed necessary. The final product would be a quail/perdiz gun.

Barrels were polished by gunsmith Juan Gonzalez and derived to engraver Alejandro Meza to retouch "Chromox Fluid Compressed Steel" on right bbl. and "Made by A.H. Fox Gun Co. Phila. PA, USA" on left bbl. Back with Gonzalez it went a slow steam blacking process. The frame, now cleaned, was retouched by Meza. A new Galazan straight trigger guard was engraved using the same motifs from the Deely latch forend. Bores were slightly backbored to remove pits and polished by Gonzalez; chokes (.020 L and .012 R) were not changed until future fact finding at the pattern board.

Since stockmaker Carlos "Charly" Reyes was not available, this Fox had to travel to Quillota (120 Km North) to be attended by gunsmith/stockmaker Mario Zavala. A US Black walnut slab, grown in the Aconcagua valley, was selected. The style followed the lines of an AH Fox 20Ga described in article by W. Headrick in the DGJ Vol. XV N�2. Stock dimentions were the same as given by Brian Bilinski�s gun fitting back in 2007. LOP was set at 15"5/8, straight grip with a little swell on the right side, stock and fore-end checkering was 24 lpi and 18 lpi at butt-end. Gun balance at hinge pin was obtained by taking wood from the stock�s rear-end and later covered with a wood checkered plug. The gun weights 2585 grams (5lb 11oz) after restocking. It prints centered and spreads 70/30% on the white board at 16 yards. All in all, it doesn�t feel wipy, handles well and seems to be heavier than its actual weight. It makes a good carrying gun and should shoot well with loads up to 26 grams (15/16oz).

Other details that had to be adressed by Zavala with this 1924 vintage gun: the left ejector was not working properly and the rotary hook had to be repaired. Trigger pull is 4 lb and 4.5lb respectively, perhalps a little high, to be dealt later with other minor adjustments during the southern summer.

Photos as it looks now:


Matters pending: Stock oil finish to be handled by our friend JayCee in due course. Some srews and pins to be redone or adjusted. Minor wood work at fore-end. Chokes to be openned on demand after trials in the white wash board. Ditto barrel regulation.

Cost Summary (at current exchange rates):

Gun US$800
Paper work US$100
Bbl reboring/polish US$ 50
Bbl blacking US$100
Trigg. Guard + Pins US$ 70
Engraving/retouch. US$130
Stock + Wood US$650
Travels US$200
JayCee�s oil work Free(?)

TOTAL US$2100

Victor Sarasqueta gun refurb summary in a few hours.

Very, very nice job ej....looks superb, beautiful wood.......enjoy the many hours of hunting with a beautiful gun.....

Thanks for posting the pics..........

Best Regards,

Very nie work and looks to be done by people that care about restoring/refinishing. Plus you couldn't have that work done here for that price.
Good luck shooting with it.

ej:
What a handsome little number you turned that into. Congratulations on a fine job!
Jim

The Victor Sarasqueta 20 Ga SLE gun is somewhat a different story, built in 1947 it was bought by my father NIB, he seldom used it. For several years it was lent to a friend that did not care it at all; once back home it was given to a brother of mine. Five years ago I purchased it for a token ammount of money on the condition that it could not leave the family. It sported 30" badly pitted barrels, the original stock did not fit me and their locks were not working properly.

This gun needed a backboring work, a careful lock repair as well a new stock and fore-end wood. Being a 7E model it deserved a well figured wood. Barrel blacking was not needed. Considering its seize and weight it was always meant to be a good dove/feral pigeon gun. The repair process took several steps.

Three years ago it went to backboring and lock repair with Sergio Gonzalez. A .615 reamer was not enough to eliminate pitting, a .625 had to be obtained from abroad to deal with pits. The barrels had plenty of wall to work on. In the end bores measure .625" up to the middle and .615" from then to the chokes. A matter that needs to be found if that unusual boring has some influence on choke performance. Lock repair was inconclusive, though they were gold washed. This gun was left iddle for many months with no further progress as it was the only twenty gauge in my stable.

When the AH Fox was bought early this year it made sense to have two 20 Ga guns for different purposes and to begin shell purchasing of a different calibre. The Sarasqueta was shipped to Mario Zavala in Quillota for further lock repair and stock replacement. A good piece of Juglans regia was selected and the restocked gun came out with 15"1/2 LOP, 1"1/2DAC and 2"1/2DAH, checkering was made at 28 lpi and at 20 lpi at the butt-end. It balances 1/4" in front of the hinge pin and has a strong barrel inertia. Chokes are .018 L and .008 R. It tips the balance now at 3000 grams (6lb 10oz), while its trigger pull is 3.5lb and 4lb respectively. Ejector work is one of its drawbacks, they are too weak to expell with authority; most gunsmiths are unwilling to risks their reputation on them.

During this southern winter it was widely used on feral pigeons and doves.

V. Sarasqueta pictures:

Cost Summary:

Difficult to asses along sereval years, some key items are:

Gun US$500
Stock + Wood US$850
Backboring US$250
Travels US$200
Stock finish by JayCee Free (Pending)

Very nice choice of wood ej, good color, good figure and not over done like so many restorations......looks great....the stock enletting is very good and on that one it is not easy......

Enjoy your family heirloom...........

Best Regards,

It was fun to read your very informative thread! Both guns turned out exceptionally well and I can't wait to chase the perdiz in Argentina and Uruguay again! Well done!!

ej,
Do you have any pictures of these guns taken before refinishing? Being a bottom feeder in the SXS game, it always interests me to see what a tired old gun looked like before it was refinished, just as it warms my heart to see what it looks like after refinishing.
Steve

That was great work on these two guns! I too enjoy seeing older guns being brought back from the dead. I value this type of money being spent to refurbish an older gun than purchasing a new gun for the same expense!

Thanks for the post,

Franchi

Rockdoc,

I will dig a couple of pictures tomorrow. But keep in mind that this in my view is only partial refinish, the V. Sarasqueta was not reblackened, the AH Fox action was left plain and not case hardened because we lack here that technique. In my view both guns would work more smoothly with some few original spare parts, etc.

Regards,

Will post the gunsmith and stockmaker pictures soon.

EJSXS