Morning all.
I did a posting recently on this forum regarding pressures of lighter factory loads from Winchester and Remington available at Wallyworld and whether they would be appropriate for a Fox SW. Received quite a few replies asking about the gun itself and barrel weights etc. and decided its time to tell the rest of the story.
For well over two years I'd been looking for a Fox SW ejector gun in 16 gauge to use on a custom project. I was inspired to do this by reading SDH's book(s) on shotguns and looked at what he did with a 28" Fox 12 gauge with number 3 barrels. Like most projects, there was no real money set aside to make this happen, so I did what most (including me) don't like to do. I decided to sell off part of my gun collection to make it happen. Therefore with the help of sites such as Gunbroker I purged the collection. Sold probably ten guns, most of which I don't miss and frankly a few that I do. All were nice guns and yes there were even a few closet queens thrown in. All in all I raised enough funds to get a good start on the project itself. Then I scanned Gun Broker, nearby auctions, every web site I could find, looking for that Fox SW 16 Gauge ejector. Found a few, but the few I did find were always sold before I got to them. Along the way, I stumbled into a CH Parker 16 gauge that I bought cheap. Well, not cheap in my mind, because it had an issue or two that needed to be fixed, but that depleted a "Abby gun" fund, so a few more guns were sold (and a couple of those it really hurt to sell).
As time went on, I kept looking at the internet sites and located a quite nice set of English Walnut that was 15 years old and decided it was good enough for the project. Finally got that last December and the project was really starting to fall into place.
Still the search for the elusive 16 gauge SW ejector continued. Now, since this gun was going to be restocked and otherwise customized, the priority concern was barrels first (good solder, no serious dents etc), then everything else, to include tight on face, lever to the right. In other words I was looking for the perfect restoration gun. So I'd have one leg up on the platform to start with. What I didn't want was a worn out gun that required big dollars just to bring it up to the level of turning it into a project gun.
Somewhere along the way after reviewing my gun inventory closely I decided I had quite a few 16 gauges already. A nice Merkel that I shoot really well and two Foxes (16 A grade (33rd one ever made) and non-ejector SW) and of course that CH Parker.
Looking at my 12 gauges, I had a Parker VH with Number 2 frame and 30" barrels that weighs almost 8 lbs and a German Sidelock that was the top of the line when it was made with absolutely spellbinding engraving. In fact I'll be the engraving alone would take 3 to 4 weeks to be duplicated.
What I didn't really have was a gun that I believed would handle flushing pheasants that were being pushed by my Abby. She and I have hunted in Montana and ND on two occasions and January of 2008 we ventured to Kansas and got into roosters again. I discovered that January I felt a tad undergunned when those pheasants were flushing at 25-35 yards out and with that cold Kansas wind at their backs hitting top speed in a hurry. My Merkel just didn't seem to have enough to reach out there and put them down as those late season birds are tough and can carry lead as they fly.
Accordingly, I decided to expand my search to include a 12 gauge SW ejector gun with 28" barrels.
Probably two months ago I came across a possible on Gunbroker. The write-up wasn't very descriptive and the pictures were lousy, but it sounded like a possible. Thus I sent a message and asked for a phone number. Got that phone number and placed the call. When we connected, I had made a list of everything I could think of to ask and the dealer was patient and forthcoming with his answers. We probably spoke for 30 minutes about the gun as it was laying on his bench. I even walked him through how to ring the barrels and he held them up to the phone and rang them for me. Was interesting trying to listen to ringing barrels on a cell phone.
Anyway, I placed the minimum bid on the gun the morning I was headed off to work. Got home that evening and logged on and I had won the auction. Gun was received within a week and it better then expected. I even hesitated whether it was indeed too nice to use as a project gun. But, the stock had been cut already and the current LOP (even with the current pad installed) was too short for me. Thus I kept with the plan. After looking the gun over very carefully I did find a slight depression/dent in the right barrel about 15" down. But otherwise it was perfect. On my digital scales it came in at 7 lbs 6 oz. It's serial number placed it as being make in 1913. Ejectors worked as they should and it was indeed tight as a drum both with and without the forearm on.
The next steps were to contact smarter folks then me with my ideas and start to draw a real plan together on what I wanted to do. My next step was to figure out who I wanted to do the work and also determine how long it would take for them to start my project. On this forum I had seen the Chrysler Gun which was a 12 gauge Fox that had been significantly altered by PGS Services located in Rome Pa and engraved by Ken Hurst. While I'm not a art deco kind of a guy, the workmanship and engraving were fantastic. Thus I made the decision to contact both Ken and PGS to see if they could tackle the project. A quick phone call to Ken and the answer was yes, he would take the project when the time came. The next call was to PGS to speak with Anthony and Dan to see it they would also take it on. About 3 weeks ago, I made the 5 hour drive from my home state of Va. to Rome Pa., carrying with me the Fox, the wood and a somewhat detailed folder with my ideas of what I wanted to have done (open to discussion of course) and lots of pictures of customized foxes I'd come across on Double Gun Journal, Shooting Sportsman, internet etc. I also had both of SDH's books with me.
After getting to Rome Pa and finding out cell phone service is non-existent in those mountains, I stumbled into the local Post Office where the nice lady working there let me use her land line phone to call PGS to get further directions. 15 minutes later I arrived and introductions were made in person.
Out came the gun and after careful inspection by Dan it was determined it was indeed in excellent condition. The slight dent in the right barrel could easily be removed and the barrel thickness there was .032. Everything else was great. Over the next two plus hours we went over action shaping, stock work, trigger guards, chokes, forcing cone lengthing, beaded fences, heck everything. Decided it will have a fancy back as per the Burt Becker guns, and rebates as well. Beaded fences also as well as a bottom shaping the way Dewey Vicknair did his custom fox a year or so ago. We then went over my walnut choice and they agreed it was very nice and would be appropriate for what the finished gun was going to be. When all was said and done I wrote them my deposit check and was told my gun would start being worked on probably Dec/Jan timeframe.
Guess that's it for now. I'll post more pictures down the road once things start happening. In the meantime, Abby and her niece (my 5 month old golden pup) are getting in shape for a hunt in Maine in early October. She may be older now, but the desire is still there and she is biddable and smart which make a good combination. She just had a complete checkup at the vet and she is ready to roll for another year.
PS. Want to thank Bill Murphy who often posts on this site. He and I have talked about this project a lot and he has lots of ideas and has helped me steer this ship in a somewhat straight direction. Also thanks to Dan and Anthony at PGS for walking a rookie through this process and of course to Ken Hurst who has done the same. Heck, I'm losing sleep on how to engrave this thing. I just know my Abby will be on the bottom of the receiver and there will be birds and English scroll on it somewhere.
