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

That worked like a charm. Thank you.

Thank you all for your commentary about auto-safeties. I don't have a preference either way, I was just wondering what the schools of thought were since I read about doing so on the Fox Collector site.

I'm posting over there as well to try and learn about what model my gun is. I thought it was a Brush Model, but there's a screw/tang interface that is significantly different than the pictures of a Brush.

I think now that it's a Skeet and Upland Game. There is also an opinion that it was re-barrled, but the Skeet and Upland Game had a 26" barrel, and ejectors as an upgrade option.

When Fox called their Sterlingworth a "Brush, Standard, Field or Trap" They were classifying them by barrel length only. Brush models have 26 inch barrels Trap models have 32 inch barrels. Other than that a Sterlingworth is a Sterlingworth essentially unchanged from their introduction to the end of production with minor changes to the forend wood design and top lever which occurred later in the Savage era. Skeet and Upland guns are a whole different sub-set with specific stock configuration which is different from the standard Fox semi-pistol grip design. Ejectors, recoil pads, custom stock dimensions and center beads were offered as extra cost options on all Fox guns.

Skeet and Upland Game I believe are english stock only.

Man you'd think you just found TR's Fox with all the posts here and on fox site. Dude its not a Skeet and Upland. You got a Sterlingworth with ejectors. period. Now that's out of the way, you better find out why both of the rods broke. One maybe, two means you got a problem. May be the site pundits will tell you why that is. No its not fine to shoot the way it is.

I'd expect many of those scrawny little guide rods break due to how slight they are, and from what I've read since starting this post, it is not uncommon. I'll be drilling the extractors, and threading in new rods of the appropriate size; probably using a pair of in gauges.

Why not shoot it? It ejects hulls fine, and if the ejectors were disabled by removing the sears and such, the hulls would extra just fine too.

I wish that whoever wouldn't have cut the barrel down. I like shorter barrels, but I'd prefer something other than cyl/cyl.

Do not allow someone to drill completely through the face of the ejector during the process of getting the old piece of guide pin out. Foxes were not built that way, and shouldn't be repaired that way. Any competent 'smith can do it properly. See this thread for a proper repair procedure, and further down in the same thread the reason why drilling completely through can cause other problems. Understand that I am not proposing that you, or anyone else, use the procedure posted to do the job. It is posted just as info as to one way of doing it.

http://www.foxcollectors.com/My%20Forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6511

Why not shoot it as is? Because flexing of the longer ejector stem will occur in much greater measure when the guide pin is missing. repeated stresses from ejection like this, or one sticky hull in a chamber, can break the ejector stem. Then you've got a much worse problem to deal with. Fox ejectors are getting hard to come by, and expensive, and require proper fitting and rim cut to be made, all of which is much worse than a proper repair on the broken guide pin.

SRH

Thank you, Stan. I will consider this all carefully.

I read the thread about the repair technique used, and it's along the lines of what I was going to do, except I was going to drill and tap for a threaded rod, rather than solder. Locktite would hold them in place, and I could make a few pairs in the event that they needed to be replaced again. One significant difference in my plan was drilling through ejector, and then cleaning up the outer surface, and that seems to be the bad part of my plan from what I'm gathering. I suppose because it would weaken the ejector?

In my humble opinion a Sterlingworth with ejectors, even with cut barrels, would be worth restoring properly. Not to make any money on it but just to preserve the Fox heritage. If it were me, I would not be trying to cut any corners, doing my own smithing or attempting to jerryrig anything. If I were so inclined I'd find another real beater to play with. It's not my gun and, of course, you are free to do anything you want with your gun. I'd send it to a trusty Fox smith.

Drilling through would require tig welding to hide the hole, then dressing off to try and hide what you've done. Just a bad idea, IMO. Much better to silver solder the pin into the hole you drilled, just not all the way through the ejector blade. Silver solder is a good deal stronger than soft solder, which is used on the ribs. It will hold the pin forever, if done properly. Really much easier than threading the end of the pin, then tapping the hole in the ejector. Also, if you don't carefully turn a shoulder on the pin, when you snug it down it may "cock" itself to one side and not be true to the pin hole. Better to use the hole as a jig to keep it all aligned perfectly, I think.

My repair that I described in the link I posted for you is all but indistinguishable from an original ejector. Your way might end up that way, too, but with much more effort, it seems to me.

SRH