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

I know this has been covered, but I tried searching couldn't find what I needed...

I just recently bought a Savage Fox SW, DOM 1934. What significant changes from the Philly era had been made by then, especially with regard to internal parts and barrels?

Fit and finish went down as time went on. The shape of the tang was altered also, it went from a fine to a much thicker tang in width from a two step to a one step taper. Stocks went down as time went by and became more slab sided. Grip caps went away. Unless you are thinking about the few draw-bolt guns near the end no major internal changes occurred other than fit , polish and finish did go down. Case hardening had already changed to the cyanide before they left Phily..

Now almost like Lefevers you can find an exception to almost anything with Fox guns. I suspect that if you wrote Savage and asked them to make a gun with fuzzy dice on the end they would have done so to make a sale.

They have to be evaluated on individual basis, but best ones were usually made bofore GD.

A 1934 gun could likely be pretty close to a late Phily gun. Likely only change would be the angle where the top-tang meets the frame and the checkering might be pointed up vice the flat-topped checkering of Philadelphia-era Sterlingworths. Phily catalogues all listed 2 3/4 inch drop-at-heel for 30-inch (Standard) and 32-inch (Trap) S-worths and 3-inch for 28-inch (Field) and 26-inch (Brush) guns. Savage listed 2 3/4 inch drop-at-heel across the Fox-Sterlingworth board. Whether the parts bins were holding any of the water-faucet toplevers, Savage-shaped safety slides and the bulkier forearms by 1934 is problematical. Likewise, whether or not the barrels would be marked "Sterlingworth Fluid Compressed Steel" or "Special Alloy Forged Steel" in 1934 is problematical.

As I recall the capless pistol grips on the Fox-Sterlingworths start being shown in the 1935 catalogue (or was it 1937?), but they are hit or miss from then 'til the end. Actually a lot of the parts can be that way. I have a late 1938-vintage Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector Brush that has a capped pistol grip, the sleek top-lever, a Phily-era safety slide but the bulky forearm.

Check out that 1935 vintage "Waterfowl" gun it's made on Phily frame. The ugliest one is that very late "Brush" gun. It has that fat tang KYJon described and Izhevsky style butt stock!

"GD"?

Great Depression?