Well Fox, the last time I bought a Fox small bore with plans to upgrade it I first found someone’s abandoned project gun. Stock devoid of finish and cut to 12 1/2”. All bluing removed from barrels maybe 6 years prior. It looked horrible. But ….it was a Philly SW 16 gauge with perfect bores, tons of wall thickness and a solid lock up. Mechanically it was sound. Everything that was wrong with it......stock and finishes, I would redo anyway in a rehab.....the things that count were just fine. It weighed 6 pounds with 28” #3 barrels choked mod and full. I paid $500 Cdn for it. That a little over $350 in USD.
I have lots of blanks. Right now I’ve sold enough blanks that the ones I have left are free. They are nicely figured English walnut with good grain structure and most of them would sell in the $700 to $900 usd retail range. A high quality restock and extensive chequering will set me back around $1700 usd. New CCH around $350 usd. Bluing around the same. So had I gone ahead with that one, the total I would have had in it would be $3000 usd when all was said and done.
The only reason I didn’t do that gun is someone offered me $2000 for the gun as it was. I figured for $2K I can go get another anytime. And I was in the middle of a rather extensive and expensive rehab of a Lindner-made Charles Daly. You may have seen the thread on that gun.
To your second question, having had both Philly and Utica SW, I likely won't buy another Utica gun.
Last edited by canvasback; 02/21/23 06:06 PM.
