doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com fox disassembly

Deekay, if you want to try it email me at gunscrew@yahoo.com.and i will walk you through it. A Fox is simple. Try an LC Smith if you want a tough one! Bobby

Deekay, as the feller who lost (misplaced the lever check/trip) I'd have to say that a warning about the pitfalls of home gunsmithing is in order particularly if you have a gun with some condition (unturned scews with good slots, tight wood and some color on the action bar). Also, it wouldn't do to suggest that the above is a "complete" Fox dissassemby but rather only the sequence of steps necessary to remove the stock.

In defense of myself and home gunsmithing generally, I'd had two Fox guns apart to this degree previously (another SW and a Fox BE which now has fresh rust blue,a new forend, and stock refinished and checkering refreshed) and lost no parts altho I did ponder the recalcitrance of both trigger plate bolts for some time before finally shocking them loose and backing them out. I punched the trip out intentionally but it wasn't in the pill bottles with the spring and other itty bits later. I bought a 12 ga. trip from an internet seller for 10$ and two hrs. after I opened the envelope I had it shortened and the strike filed to a shape and hgt. which would allow the rib extension to trigger the trip. There's a first time for everything (success and failure). One of the guys here who advised a bit on fitting the new trip claims to have lost an entire 20 ga. action bar. So stuff happens. It's risky to start on something like this without knowledge of a procedure such as that given by the Rev. Doc. Good lighting in the your work area, marked containers for parts removed, a work surface which is clean (white terry cloth towel works for me), wood-padded vise jaws are available to every one of us--not just to pros. Pin punches, small hammers, and Apex screwdriver bits which can be ground for a special application are also available with a little forethought and consideration before you start. All of it cheaper than professional help at the outset anyway. Realistically, I think the risk of loss of condition is the same whether it's a 500$ SW or a 60K$ Purdy but obviously the potential monetary loss is greater in some cases than in others. The very best step you can take to prepare for the possible hazards of home gunsmithing is to first ask yourself why you want to get inside? Strip and clean, badly damaged stock, or just the yen to tinker and explore? You'll experience aggravation sufficient to reinforce your humility in any case so the intended result should be worth the aggravation.

jack

Deekay, you could do worse than follow along to Bobby's advice. He knows a lot more than just how to get the stock off. And incidentally, there's yet another potential escapee from this procedure: the safety pushrod in a boring in the left stock cheek. It's easy to reproduce if you know the dimensions; not so easy if you don't see it and it gets away. Some guys like to remove it to achieve a manual safety. Loosing it is one way to accomplish this result but not the best. I see now Drew has that covered also.

jack

Jack, from now on when i take a Fox apart i will think of you! We need to change the instructions to place the action in padded vise up side down as the first step and remove the front trigger plate screw and then take tweezers and pull the little spring out and then the toplever trip! I have lost several springs and one trip myself! Bobby

Might as well. If you can't break the trigger plate bolt loose, twirling triggerguards and removing tang screws doesn't accomplish much anyway.

jack

Thanks for all the tips guys, I will save them. I would like to pick up a poor condition Fox sometime to practice on.

By the way, how would the fit and finish be on the screws on a Savage Fox. The screws on my gun are slightly buggered and the one at the rear of the trigger guard was proud on one side. I guessed that somone had the screws out, or tried to tighten them. The rear trigger guard screw could never have fit right if it was the original. From the factory, would all the screw slots be clean and parallel? Dan

DeeKay, a high-sided screw or bolt is by definition undertightened or overtightened relative to where the factory put it since they were filed flush to the surface surrounding the countersink (or counterbore in the case of the Fox trigger plate bolt). These surfaces are by and large not flat but have countours (lateral crowning of the upper tang)and the filed screw head only matches this contour in one position. Sometimes a full turn out looks pretty good but about 90 degrees out gives the game away--edges sharp to the touch, clothing snags. All a matter of degree. Take the cross pin out of a Superposed forend sometime if you want to see a real slant top bolt.

jack

A cut away Sterlingworth was recently up for auction. These views may help a bit. If any one can find an exploded view of a Sterlingworth....




Here is the exploded view of a Savage Fox
http://www.okiegunsmithshop.com/savage_fox.jpg

Pete

Trip hidden behind the hammer. Can't see the intertwining of woody bits and sear arms. Trigger plate bolt has a nice slot but they weren't left untimed like that even on a Utica gun, were they?

jack