Thoughts on the quality and whether this might be an upgrade as compared to a Factory Trigger guard on a Fox Sterlingworth ejector gun. I'm speaking the non-English/straight Trigger guard. This is tied to my Fox upgrade project currently in the planning stage.

Here's a few pictures:







PS. I give a lot of this project directly due to my interesting in hatching up a special gun to as a tribute to my Golden Retriever who has hunted with me from Maine to Montana. She's nine now, and hopefully I'll have this available for her 10th year of being my companion who always greets me with a tail wag and a wet nose.

Tut, that is a nice clean looking Fox! I have never used a pistol grip Galazan guard but the straight grip ones are great. Tony told me that he uses them on his new Foxes. You could file and thin down the original guard. Bobby

It has a different thread than teh original Fox guard.
With all do respect, you bettter get busy on that project, the last time I took on a custom Fox it involved a whole bunch of bench hours.

I bought one to use on my 16 gauge Sterly straight stock project. It is beautifully shaped, much nicer than the boxy looking one on the Philadelphia Sterlingworth -- which is a hell of a lot nicer than the big gaping round thing on the Utica Sterly's, by the way. You will find the stud thread on the Galazan guard is not the same as the one on the Sterlingworth. My Sterly has a 7/32-32 (#12-32??) thread, and the Galazan trigger guard is a 1/4-28, I think. Also, the stud is further back relative to the front of the oval of the trigger guard, so the guard must be lengthened by splicing (welding) in a small piece, so the split back end will clear the triggers. It looks like maybe a quarter inch or so ought to do it. One could sharpen the bend at the front of the Galazan guard, but that would ruin its lines.

I plan to cut off the stud and drill it out, make a new one of the proper thread size, install the stud and place the trigger guard (the hole I just drilled) over that stud and tack weld the guard to the stud so the threads register properly with the trigger guard in position. Then I'll remove the tack-welded assembly and finish it off the frame. It looks like I might have to tune up the shape of the triggers a little to function and look right with the trim oval of this Galazan trigger guard. I'm talking about the long tang guard for straight grips -- the one without the rolled edges.

Cheers,
Tony

The Krieghoff Model 32 method of installing a trigger guard is not entirely ugly if the exposed screw head is dressed to the inside surface of the front curve and nicely engraved. The engraving of the almost invisible screw head would be a custom touch that impresses us. Krieghoff does not weld a threaded stud but uses a screw through a hole in the front curve. If "we" were to cut the stud off any nicely shaped trigger guard, smooth off the area, and drill a hole in the preferred location, we could avoid all the welding and worry about the position and thread size and pitch of the stud. Just an idea.

Thanks for the comments thus far. This gun is headed up to Pa next weekend to the same folks who did the shaping on the Chrysler Fox. I've got loads of ideas on what this is to look like as far as action shaping goes. At this point (subject to discussions with PGS) its sort of a combination Dewey Vicknair, Burt Becker and Lindner Daly. It will be distinctive but tastefully done. Ken Hurst has agreed to take on the engraving as well, but that will be down the road. I certainly give Mr. Hughes high marks as his books have helped inspire this project. Just his section in his latest book about what to look for in a used gun allowed me to very carefully select what I should look for in a project gun.

I'm hopeful this will indeed be something that all of the craftsman involved will be glad they undertook at the end of the day. Still loads to do, beyond action shaping, to include what wood should be used, checkering patterns, engraving of course etc. etc. The trigger guard is just one part of the multitude of areas to think about. Frankly more thought is going into this project then I ever imagined. PS. On top of everything else, I'm trying to keep this project under my self imposed budget limits, or should I say what I told my wife I was going to spend.

I'll second Steve on this one! A fox project can eat up bench hours in a heart beat,especially if you plan on scallops and rebates etc.

Also plan on spending many "file time" hours on the Galazan guard. It is way to thick as it comes and needs to have a draft filed on the edges where it is fitted into the wood.

tut, Sounds like a thoroughly thought out project, and a nice looking Fox to start with. Dewey has shown some very special work here and Ken is well know for his excellent treatment of Fox guns. Let's see some pix along the way.

I guess I don't know what the "Chrysler Fox" is? nor who PGS is?

and thanks for the book plug, to which I will shamelessly add my contact info as both books are available...sdh at montana dot net
Thanks,
Steve

Have both of your books by the way. They helped this project take off. Far as the Chrysler gun, the following link will hopefully take you there.

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...e=0&fpart=1

It's a custom fox that was done in a art deco style to shoot clays etc. PGS in Pa acted as the "prime" contractor on the project. If the link doesn't work, a quick search of the word "Chrysler" on this site should bring it up as Ken Hurst posted quite a few pictures as he did the engraving.