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

Shopping for an inexpensive American SXS of good quality and value to shoot. Can you offer pluses or minuses of these examples? Comparisons of features? Am I looking at the wrong guns?

There are no minuses unless in bad condition.

Parker has overly complicated mechanism. More parts to get out of wack. Also Parker has softer barrel steel and barrels will dent more easily. Parker has way more screw slots to get buggered up. Buy the Sterly.

Buy the best gun you can find at your price, regardless of who made it.

I have Parkers and a Sterlingworth. I'd choose Sterlingworth for the reasons mentioned above. There's also citation of our distinguished member SDH in his "Double Shotguns, Fine Gunmaking" quoting Michael McIntosh of what gun he would choose for a high-grade custom project. "If it were mine it would be a Fox." The accompanying story was of SDH's magic of turning the Sterly into a swan.

When the Sterlingworth came out in 1910 it had a price of $25. The price stayed at $25 thru 1916, then climbed quickly to $55 by 1919. A.H. Fox Gun Co. reduced the price to $48 in 1922 and again to $36.50 in 1926. Workmanship of course declined. Parker Bros. introduced their Trojan Grade at $27.50 in 1912. The Trojan�s price climbed like the Sterlingworth to $55. Parker Bros. kept the price and the quality of the Trojan high and sold about 33000 total. Fox began cutting the price of the Sterlingworth and sold well over 100000. The only option ever offerd on the Trojan was the Parker 2nd generation single selective trigger, very late in production. A.H. Fox Gun Co. offered ejectors and the Fox-Kautzky Single Selective trigger on their Sterlingworth. Savage upped the ante and added the options of beavertail forearms and a non-selective Single Trigger on their Fox-Sterlingworths,as well as adding the straight-gripped Fox-Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game Gun. A.H. Fox Gun Co./Savage Arms Corp. offered a complete range of barrel lengths (26-, 28-, 30- and 32-inch in all three gauges) on their Sterlingworths as well, while Parker Bros./Remington Arms Co., Inc. offered a rather limited choice of barrel lengths (26-, 28- and 30-inch in 12-gauge and 26- and 28-inch in 16- and 20-gauge)on the Trojan.

Go with the Sterlingworth. Even in 12 gauge I find the aesthetics and handling quite nice.

Having owned and shot many times several examples of both, I'll play devil's advocate and offer this opinion; unless you're planning on getting an ejector model Sterlingworth for possible upgrade later on, or there is a huge price difference, I'd certainly not shy away from the Trojan. I personally found standard the Parker gun (to include the Trojan) with double triggers and manual extractors to be totally reliable and to function quite smoothly; although I can't say the same about Parker guns with single triggers and auto-ejectors, as I had continuous problems with those options. And although the Sterlingworth admittedly has fewer parts and screws, the Trojan is much better fitted and finished; and as regards softness of barrel steels, don't hit me over the head with a set of barrels from either model!

Both models are great guns but oh my, the sterlingworth looks a lot better! Bobby

You can also find a significant weight range with Foxes which you will not find with Trojans. Fox had 4 different barrel weights, varying significantly from lightest to heaviest. With the Trojans, within each gauge (12-16-20, same as Fox offered), all guns were supposedly built on the same frame: 12ga, #2, 16ga, #1; 20ga, #0. (Seems I recall a few exceptions, but not many.) Thus, all 16ga Trojans, for example, will weigh pretty close to the same thing--varying mostly with barrel length. In contrast, you can find 16ga Sterlingworths with the same length barrels varying at least a pound in weight.