Tim- not quite sure what you are saying here-This old "pawn shoppe" beauty is the only Fox I have ever owned or shot to any extent-I'm a "bargain guy"- the fact that I have a few Parkers, Winchesters and Colts is due to luck- only son, only grandson-so I inherited my "safe queen Parkers" -the Winchesters and Colts I use-bought my pre-64 custom stocked Sako .243 from a friend 20 some years ago- the Fox from a pawn shop- and the Parker 12 Trojan I recently sold to a hunting buddy- from a gun dealer in Columbus OH-at again a reduced price, as some numbnutz had engraved his name, rank and serial no. across the floor plate-I don't have the McIntosh book on the Fox guns-just his "Best Guns" circa 1989-in that almost 20 year old book page 58 shows the HE with the heavier barrels and some amount of "line engraving" which my gun doesn't have-but it does have the stamp "Not Guaranteed" my chamber gauge reads 3"- and the nominal bore dias. are 0.7490" both tubes- right barrel at muzzle and 2" back is 0.7150", left is 0.7210"- I read in the GBE book that the second Becker made for Nash B. weighed 10 lbs.-GBE doesn't detail any barrel weight stamp-neither does McIntosh in "Best Guns" perhaps he did later in his book on the Fox guns, I don't know. Mine looks more like an ejector Sterlingworth with 32" barrels, but they are Chromox Steel- and the Sterlingworths had their own steel grade mark- as a Parker Trojan had Trojan grade steel- etc. Also, were there any Sterlingworths made in Phila. with 32" barrels.?? As this Fox I own was most likely a "Hot item" as are many pawn shop items- the numbers ground down- I can't tell even with a magnified if the first digit is a 3- a 5- or an 8- and when I wrote to Mr. Clark he returned my check for the $10 fee uncashed, saying without readable numbers he couldn't verify my gun as an HE made in Phila- so it is a mystery- but for $650 plus $125 to Jack Rowe, some time and walnut and a $30 pad and spacer-and some time equity- I have a "Bo Whoop-ie" that I can afford, and every time I drop a "archangel barn pigeon" in the summer- or a cornfield Canada in the Jan-Feb winter "bonus season" I feel the touch of the great "Shootin'ist Gent'man" from the great State of TN on my shoulder-and I am indeed blessed. I think the Phila. Fox guns were the best American boxlocks ever made, and some day I'd love to have Dewey Vicknair or another artisan- Steven Dodd Hughes, Mike Campbell, Dennis Potter- restock and re-finish this old war horse-oh- and my pal with the BH Parker is still out of the country Tim- once he gets back (he's a regular at our Friday night poker fests) I'll ask him if he wishes to sell that "jewel" and let you know his answer- I haven't forgotten. Out last night for woodchucks with son-in-law and his new Rem 700 in .17IHR (pipsqueak load to me) I had the .220 Swift- we each shot a fox (my namesake) missed a running coyote- and he popped a fat "whistle pig" right in the eye at an estimated 200 yards with that new rifle-I have seen foxes in the evening (just before 9:0'clcok (2100 hrs.) almost every time we have been out-no wonder upland bird pops. are down!! RWTF
