doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fox pin gun forend delima.

Jon,
I would guess the J spring will hold the forend on as well as the spring/roller used later. First I would check to insure the forend loop is secure and not loose on the barrels. A beavertail puts a lot more stress on the loop than a splinter does, that is why on the graded guns Fox used the re-inforced loop design. With theh J spring out, make sure the forend iron bears snugly against the rear of the loop; if it does not I would correct that, I suspect that is the problem. A new J spring may be needed. But too much pressure of a J spring can lead to a loose forend loop so watch it. If that doesn't work try altering your loop to a roller style.

As near as I can tell, they used the Baker-Style J-Spring when they brought out The Sterlingworth Co. gun in 1910. By the time the Sterlingworth appears in the 1911 A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogues and period magazine advertising, they are using a "coil spring device." It appears to me that they used the J.C. Kremer & A.H. Fox Patent No. 1,029,374 on Fox extractor guns with snap-off/snap-on forearms for a period of time. All the Fox ejector guns with snap-off/snap-on forearms I've examined use the F.T. Russell Patent No. 1,029,229 fastener. I've not seen an ejector gun with the Kremer-Fox style fastening. If someone has one, please poat pictures.

Some years ago, Babe Delgrego told me he had some letters between Parker Bros. and the A.H. Fox Gun Co. about the Kremer-Fox forearm fastening, as that was the style fastener they were going to use (and did use) on the Trojan Grade they brought out in 1912.

It has also jogged my memory a bit; Sometimes the forends are no inletted deeply enough to get the forend iron up where it should be on the barrels. The J sppring, and the coil spring versiion, are over-center limbs and must go past center to hold position. Take the wood off and try the forend iron on the barrels, see how close it is to the flat of the loop. Put the wood back on and use a little piece of modeling clay on the iron to see how much it compresses, how far the iron goes up to the loop flat. I still think the J spring should hold the feoend on. Just another variable.