doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fox Upgrade, opinions wanted

Building a custom Fox.
Have several donor Sterlingworths to select from.
Would you opt for ejectors or extractors. I have both.
In this day and age, for partridge (grouse) ejectors aren�t a necessity. Not like there will be flurries of birds. Besides, from an ecological standpoint, pulling out empties instead of searching for them after in the leaves on the ground after they left the gun is the better way.

Pros of extractors: Looking at the long term, the pros for extractors seems to be less parts to go wrong/break.
Extractor Foxes close easier than ejector Foxes.
Less wood removed from the fore-end, stronger, especially with snap on for-end of the Sterlingworth.
Pros of ejectors: cool factor. Although I believe there were way less extractor graded guns than ejector guns.

Not concerned with resale since I will be dead when that comes and wont give a hoot if non of my family wants to keep it and if you undertake one of these upgrades, recouoing your money isn�t a practical expectation anyway.
Thoughts??

Teddy Roosevelt's F grade was an extractor - doesn't get much cooler than that.

go with another gun there have been a bunch of fox upgrades.find a sidelock or another make of boxlock.go in your own direction.i would go with ejectors, you are doing an upgrade.mc

Ejectors. I always catch my hulls anyway, but a high grade gun deserves kickers if you ask me. I'm doing a 16 bore ejector Fox for a client right now. It will be engraved with a Celtic theme and have a few nice embellishments along the way.

I am in the middle of doing a pair of Remington 1894's for two of my sons to use after I am long gone. So I understand your desire to build what you want and not care about cost or recovery of your investment.

I did a Fox re-chamber years ago. It was a 16 ga. extractor with 30" barrels with chambers that were ruined by two paper shells stored for four or five decades. I am talking about pitting like the craters on the back side of the moon. I chamber sleeved it down to a 20 gauge. It is long range death on doves and pigeons. So much so that I have another donor gun that I am hoping to sleeve to 20 for a second one to pass along.

To your selection list. I rather have extractors than ejectors. Cool only works with others around to see your coolness and I tend to hunt a lot alone or with just one of my sons. And sons know dads are not cool. Not having to work around ejectors inletting give you a lot more flexibility on how you make the fore end. I have been thinking about trying a semi beaver-tail fore end, long and trim with a small Schnabel tip or other shaped end point. Figure to make one and try it, change it as desired and then if it works well use a nice fore end blank to make the real one using it as a pattern.

If you have the time and money I would be thinking in terms of a pair of guns. Perhaps a 28" and a 30" pair with different chokes but the same basic stocks. Kind of a near and far set of guns. Make what you want and enjoy both the process and the product because it is fun to upgrade a gun and see if it meets your goals.

Well, Brian, I'll run against the flow and throw in for extractors. I've been shooting SxS's for almost fifty years now, both American and English/European makes....and the bulk of my repair costs have been experienced with ejector guns.

Either replacing costly ejector leaf springs or the actual ejector separating from its stem or rod have been the most common. A new one for me recently was needing to have a TIG welding repair to the ejector cocking dog on the frame of a Parker. None of these repairs were cheap, usually in the several hundred dollar range, and since I trap my empties anyway rather than letting them fly, I've come to favor extractor guns. To the point, in fact, that I've converted the ejector gun(s) I shoot the most over to 'extractors' by removing the ejector springs. I know the Foxes have coil ejector springs, so any such repairs aren't going to be that big a deal cost-wise, but why pay up-keep on a feature that you intend to not really use? Just a thought....given that re-sale value is not your concern.

Rob

Ejectors and single triggers--both are designed by a sadist to make life miserable.

Brian, I vote for ejectors. I agree with SKB about them being a natural part of an upgrade, but disagree that just because you have ejectors you are searching for hulls on the ground. I trap them in my hand as they eject, and never drop one. It is extremely easy, and makes for much faster reloading. They are very useful to me while hunting, and yes, I reload.

Also have not had the bad experiences others have had with ejectors breaking. I have been shooting S x Ss for 54 years and have NEVER had an ejector break, and I shoot quite a lot.

SRH

For what it's worth, I did acquire an early 20's A.H. Fox AE 12 ga. with a broken ejector sear. One-owner gun before me but, no info on what could have caused it. Found a NOS sear for a couple of bucks (years ago) and gunsmith fitted it up for a few more bucks. Not sorry that I have ejectors in at least one of my Foxes. This gun does it all from ducks, dove, to pheasant. Good luck with the project!

It is so easy to catch "ejected" shells in the hand, that I don't see it as an ecological issue. It's true that with extractors, its one less possible problem to contend with, however if this is a "total" custom Fox, the gunsmith should be able to insure that it never crops up as a problem in your lifetime or that of at least the next generation. In short, do whatever floats your boat. It won't matter.