So I have to ask, Jerry, about your data base and furthermore if you've seen that claim in print as famous/well known faults usually are, and if so, where? I've been into Fox guns since I was a kid and have a good technical base on all things Fox. Plus I've been around many knowledgeable Fox men for many years, and have never heard anything like that - nor would I subscribe to it.

I'm one of those rainy day gun guys; on the rare occasion that I'm hunting in the rain I'll be carrying my old Stevens 5100. Funny, 'cause my "good" guns are probably some guys' rainy day guns :)!

Right Phil - Mine too! :rotf:







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Frank,

From rebluing Savage-era Foxes (SWs I rescue from the grave); put one in the boiling tank and rust blue it a half dozen times and then blow air through the weep hole. You just ruined a good bluing job with oil streaks coming from the rib. Not all, and probably not early Foxes or high grade ones, but it does happen. Just thin solder in spots. Take a late Fox (because they have the weephole), put it in water displacing oil until it stops bubbling through the hole, wipe it clean, and put a little air (not 120 lbs.) to the weephole. Watch where it comes out. Parker not so much but I have had them also. But with no weephole in most Parkers I can't say what percentage but very low.

Probably the best gunsmith I have used told me never to drill a weephole to blue barrels. But he changed his mind when on a top quality gun he was relaying the ribs and found there was so much rust and pitting where water had been seeping in for years or from a previous bluing job..

My post was an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I'll keep my help to myself in the future.

My grandson and I waited all morning for the rain to stop so we could go hunting. It finally stopped raining and we went on a short two-hour hunt. After an hour of hunting the wet covers the sky opened up and it took us an hour to get back to camp.
We were soaked through but we took care of our Parkers and fed and watered Grace before we tended to our own comfort.
The Parkers are dry and wiped down with Ballistol and snug in the gun rack.
Now to get these wet clothes off.

Had seven grouse flushes - I missed my only shot - and one woodcock that Grace bumped accidentally.





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Wax the metal with IBIZ, a wax consisting of pure carnuba and containing no abrasives. It works incredibly well. I wax all my damascus bbls and any gun I use for ducks. Google it for a source in Florida if I remember correctly.

Guns were made to shoot in any weather, not to look at, preserve in comfy places. Like Chris, I live in a neighbouring province where weather is not a determinant of which gun, where, when or how I hunt. Chris is on an island surrounded by salt water and I on a geographic raft jutting out into the same wild and wooly North Atlantic. Surf, fog and rain are constant companions. The only reason for rust is negligence.

True King. That's why I'd choose my old Stevens if the weather's inclement. It's easy to break down for a thorough deep cleaning if required; my Foxes or my Parker not so much, plus I don't believe in disassembling them any more than necessary. It's not about "preserve in comfy places"; all my guns get equal respect or I wouldn't own them. The Stevens has been a good gun and I shoot it as well as I shoot any of 'em.