I recently purchased, from a close friend, an Ansley H. Fox AE 16 Gauge with all matching numbers and 30" barrels choked a very tight modified and full with the original short chambers. This gun was made circa 1920-'21 time frame and still has about 90%++ of the cyanide case colors. A Callahan letter has been ordered. Pictures below.

The Fox Collectors Association is no help in defining the production numbers by barrel length for Graded 16 & 20 gauge guns. I have read some of the threads posted on the Fox site and members there say they have not tallied up these production numbers from "their factory data cards"......

QUESTION:
So my question to board members here is "how many of you own, or have owned or have sold, bought, shot, or handled a 16 gauge" Graded Ansley Fox Gun with 30" or 32" barrels ..?..?.... I personally have never viewed or handled a Graded 16 gauge Fox with 30" or 32" barrels at any of the many gun shows I attend, how about you...?...

Thank You...!

I own A-Grade 16-gauges in both 30-inch





and 32-inch --











From fifty years of playing with Ansley H. Fox doubles, I'd say that 28-inch barrels are far and away the most common length in 16-gauges, followed by 26-inch and 30-inch being about the same and 32-inchers least common.

I searched through the first 2000 graded 20-gauge Ansley H. Fox records and only found 47 32-inch guns, so they are fairly rare!!

Nice looking gun Doug. I have a 32" AE 16 ga, POW grip, choked F/F, but no photos. Need to take some.

Don't have an answer to your question, Doug, but I do know your gun as been refinished. Very obvious, but a nice job. You probably already knew that. The forend iron doesn't fit up to the receiver very well. Should be a great dove gun!
JR

I have owned five A or AE 16. Four 28 and one 26. I have seen three 30" in the last few years. No 32" or I would have bought it.

It's not graded but I have a 16g, 30" Sterlingworth ejector that is in approximately the same condition as yours and it is a very sweet gun. One of my favorites!

John can you help out a relative newby? You mention the gun has been refinished and that it is obvious. Maybe to you, but not so much to me. Can you illuminate me on the obvious tell tales that it has been refinished? I don't have much problem picking out one of Ed's torch jobs but would like to get better at assessing guns on-line. Thanks.

I have a Fox XE 16 with 30" barrels:

Mike, now you are just showing off! LOL

That is some beautiful gun. Thanks for posting it.

Sure, Canvasback. The bluing, to begin, is very smooth and perfect, and has a wonderful grey/blue color. Foxes had a black color and showed more linear texture that is easily recognized by Fox enthusiasts. The case coloring may or may not be original; hard to tell.

The wood finish is very glossy and perfect also, that hints of some polyurethane in the mix. These guns originally had a linseed based varnish that would show a significant patina as well. Notice some of the rounded corners at the rear inside of the forend where it was over-sanded and does not meet the iron.

Hope this helps, and Doug, I'm not trying to be too critical of your gun. It's still a nice acquisition.
JR

Duplicate post - Don't know how I did that!

Oh shit...wow.
JR

Thanks. I really like the gun. My pictures don't do it justice though:







Thanks. I invoke the Texas exemption: If it is true it isn't bragging.

Mike, how's she choked? What pad is on the gun?

Do you let Joe, your student/gun bearer, handle the gun?

Hi Mike:

Right barrel about 20/1000th.

Left a little more.

An off brand pad.

I intend to put a leather faced Silvers pad on it. They tell me that was the default pad on the XEs when they left the factory.

My shooting student Joe Wood carries the dead birds and water for the dogs. I don't let him touch the Fox.

Thank you to everyone who posted so far, and thanks to Dave Noreen for the information and the pictures of his 16 gauge long barrel guns.

Thank you to Mike for his beautiful High Grade long barrel 16 pictures, something to see for sure....


JR:

A High Definition Sony Digital Camera magnifies close ups by about 4X, I'm sure you already knew that. Therefore cracks, SHADOWS, spaces and joints appear more than what they are to the naked eye in real time size. The forearm on this gun fits quite well and works even better as do the ejectors...

That being said, here is a picture of the same side as pic 1 above, taken in poor florescent lighting with a standard Non High Definition digital camera just for you. The picture does not show the cyanide case colors well BUT does show the FOREND FIT and the wood before I cleaned and waxed it up.

The barrels are about as black as any I have ever seen. You are looking at a lighting reflection and calling the gray lighting reflection the barrel color. Had you looked at the picture in the initial post of the muzzle, you would have seen the very black texture of the barrels.

The wood has been touched up by me and waxed by me to a gloss. Since this was not the purpose of the post, I did not go into detail on what I did or didn't do to this gun. In my opinion the wood has been refinished sometime during it's lifetime.

It is also my opinion that the blacking on the furniture and the barrels is most likely original as evidenced by the barrel flats, the signature line, the muzzle and the breech etc. If it is not original, then it is one of the best re-blackings I have ever seen. The cyanide case colors are original as well in my opinion.

I took the gun completely apart and serviced it with EEZOX as I had once before about 10 years ago when my friend first bought this gun. I timed the ejectors and I timed all the screws to 12/6 o'clock as is my style.

Besides the poor picture of the side of the gun in poor lighting with a poor camera below, I have also included an additional picture of the barrel signature lines and the wood right after I waxed it up.

Just because the metal surfaces are not worn does not mean they are not original. I have seen many New-In-The-Box guns at large shows that are mint new in all respects and many are near or over 100 years old and they all look better than this gun. Just my opinion, yours obviously is different.








Best Regards,

Doug, by any measure, that is a very, very nice gun. And Fox subgauges with 30" barrels are certainly scarce, maybe even rare.

Thats what I thought when Doug told me about the gun and the barrel length,rare and still a good market !

You both have some smoking nice guns !