doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fox Sterlingworth markings

I just picked up a new (to me!) Sterlingworth 20ga. 1926 with the side of the left barrel marked 20ga. 2 3/4. I have seen this on a other one that I owned a number of years back. If or when sent back to Savage for what ever reason were they rechambered and so marked? Thanks, Bob

Bob,

Yes, if the chamber size is marked on the barrels and it was indeed made in 1926 as per the serial number, then sometime in it's life Savage had the gun at their factory and decided they would stamp the chamber length on the side.......sad, but that's what they did to any of the "Philadelphia built guns" that 'visited' Savage for any work. Savage took it upon themselves to 'lengthen' the chambers and stamp the barrels, interesting story for sure.

Somewhere I read that they did not tell the owners about the additional marking either, so many were unhappy when they got their guns back, or so the story goes.

Best,

I have examined 12ga PA-made Strelingworth frame + wood with Savage Chicopee Falls barrels numbered to old frame. Lots of KOOL stuff there.

At some point in time, Savage Arms Corp. instituted a policy that any Philadelphia built Ansley H. Fox shotgun that came in for repair would first be rechambered for 2 3/4 inch shells and proof tested at the owner�s risk, before any other repairs would be performed. If the gun failed proof, they offered to fit a new set of barrels at 10% below list as a matter of good will, before doing any other repairs. If the original Philadelphia barrels did pass their proof, they got this stamp --



same as they began putting on new Ansley H. Fox guns about 1938.

Between this policy and just the number of Philadelphia guns that Savage added a second set of barrels to, there are a lot of Philadelphia era Ansley H. Fox doubles out there with later Utica, NY, or Chicopee Falls, Mass. barrel addresses, and even a few with a Westfield, Mass. barrel address.

One wonders why Savage did this. Right up to the beginning of WWII, per my 1940 Shooters Bible, there were more short shells available from American ammo makers than there were 2 3/4" shells. That's especially true in 16ga, and the percentage of short shells to long was also higher in 20ga than in 12ga. In the long run, when ammo makers dropped their short shells--not sure when that happened, someone with late 40's catalogs or Shooters Bible could perhaps comment--that turned out to be a good decision. But during the 30's, there was certainly no shortage of American shells appropriate for use in short-chambered guns.

Unfortunately, many American gunsmiths adopted the practice of lengthening short chambers to 2 3/4", but skipping the reproof step.

My Western Cartridge Co. catalogues show 2 1/2 inch 20-gauge shells and 2 5/8 inch 12-gauge shells being offered in 1946 and 47, but gone by 1948. The 2 9/16 inch 16-gauge shells remained in the offerings into the early 1960s when plastic shells began replacing paper shells.