Daryl,
Legit was a reference to the many altered barrels I see on Fox guns to 3" with sellers claim of factory status. Real 3" barrels on Fox are rare.
The HE's were built a heavier than the regular Fox. Figure the frame is about a 1/16"-1/8" larger than the standard Fox. The barrels were "0" weight barrels, 30 or 32" only. Bert Becker was the main barrel man behind this gun. Claims of 80-90% patterns were common and one I owned did fall into that range. One load of buffered 5's went over 93% on several pattern sheets. Originally they were a few 2 3/4" but most were 3" chambered barrels. 9 to 9 3/4 pound HE's are not that rare but the guns are fairly rare.
So what I saw was intended to be a long range, heavy weight gun, that could be used with the most modern and stoutest shells of the day. Now it is a butchered gun, with neither good handling, great patterns or the fine long range gun it should be. All because some owner, in the past, wanted a shorter or more open barrel. I would rather he just reamed out the chokes. That could be fixed given time and money.
