I have an early Fox CE that has a serious barrel bulge at the breech end. I'm thinking about selling the gun for whatever I can get. Is there a Potential liability issue selling the barrels even with full disclosure? Or should I pitch the barrels and part out the rest of the gun?

A CE is a nice gun, I would be looking for a set of any grade barrels to fit up to the receiver. It is foolish to pitch such a nice gun. If you are determined to pitch it I will buy it and provide a written statement that I will not sue !

bill

I've read that the Brits sometimes drill a hole or cut a slot in barrels that are out of proof. Maybe one of them can elaborate.

Seems to me a reasonable way to address the problem.

Agree that there's no need to pitch the gun.

Is it a candidate for sleeving? Also, what gauge might dictate how much folks are willing to invest to make it right.

Sent you a p.m.

SRH

An amateur's question: if the bulge is close enough to the breech could a longish chamber liner be installed and the old bulge struck off on the outside. Seems I've read Briley does this sort of work and I'm sure others. A call to Kirk Merrington would probably be worthwhile.

It's a 1909 12g with early style (Horne) ejectors. I have been looking for barrels with no luck yet finding a close fit. Also I have considered sleeving but don't see that as an option. Thanks for the responses and PM's.

Have you contacted Jason Bardin of Pumpkin Mountain in NY?

He holds all of the remaining original Fox parts and is an expert gunsmith that spent many years at Doug Turnbull.

He has a web site and has dozens if not hundreds of sets of barrels in the white. He is a heck of a nice guy as well.

www.pumpkinmountaingunshop.com or, www.ahfoxparts.com

Jason can certain sell you a graded barrel. It will be in the white and will need chambers cut, rib matted, engraving, roll stamping etc. It won't be cheap but it is certainly doable and you will be where you want to be in the end.

I think most of what Jason has are later run barrels but they should be compatible. I just fit a set of his barrels to an early graded ejector gun for a client and the ejectors were also the early style. Everything works. It is a huge job and the costs will far exceed the value of an average C grade 12bore. Best of luck with it.
Steve

I would look for an existing set of barrels and have them put on the gun. Can't imagine even a nice CE being worth much without safe barrels. A new set of 30s or better yet 32s from Pumkin Mountain would certainly make it desirable. Figure out how much these options will cost and see where you're at.
Regards,
Jeff

The barrels may be able to have the bulge removed by taking the runs off, removing and putting them back on again. Has been done before.

With a serious bulge at the breech where the pressure is at its peak striking off a bulge would be a very bad idea. The metal has already been stretched beyond its elastic limit creating an unknown variable. My eyes and fingers are much too valuable to attempt that type of repair. I have successfully removed bulges further forward in an area of the barrel where the pressure has dropped substantially by pounding down as much as possible and then striking off the high spots. I am unsure if this is the gun I think it is....if so it has been in my shop a couple of times and a safe and cost effective solution has not been found so far. Fitting a used set of barrels will most likely be the answer as the amount of work to fit a NOS set is cost prohibitive in most cases. They require many many hours of careful fitting.

I think we can all speculate (mine being they can't be fixed), but the best thing to do in my mind is to send them to Kirk Merrington and have him do an evaluation and develop some options. Graded 12 gauge barrels aren't hard to find in 12 gauge. The fact they have the early style ejectors might complicate things a tad, but I'm sure they are out there. You might be able to find an early AE that's in rough shape with good barrels and do a swap and fit, but starting with Kirk would be my first step to knowing what your options are.

SKB is right on target. I had Kirk fit an NOS set of barrels to my Ideal 16, giving him what I thought was a hefty deposit. He did them in record time, and when I asked what the balance was, I asked if that was the total or additional to the deposit already given (he had explained up front that the charges would be actual bench time, and that it was difficult to estimate). "Additional."

As I wrote the check (absolutely top drawer work, BTW), I said "looks like I'm helping pay for that trip to the Bahamas."

"No, but you are helping with my wife's trip back to England."

Mike

Yes SBK, it is the gun your thinking of. Twice I've bought barrels that could have matched but they required to much fitting to be worth it. Shipping and transaction costs start to add up after a while and I don't want to keep throwing good money after bad. Also, not just any old Fox barrels will do. The draft angles of Foxes changed after the early years plus the Horne style ejectors were redesigned after 1910 I think. So a near-fit set of barrels is hard to find to begin with, and getting a qualified guy like SBK to do the fine tuning doesn't come cheap.