The 20ga Sterlingworth is the best buy in vintage American small bore SXS's in my opinion. If you keep your nose to the ground high condition examples with ejectors are available for under 2K and most weight under 6 lbs. A similar condition VHE would set you back $4K or more.

They are pretty dang nice. I have one that is my go to wood duck gun. It is full and full. I need an upland choked one

A year or so ago I sold a first year production Sterlingworth 20 that was also factory original 26” . I bought it at what I thought was a very inexpensive price four or five years ago and when I sold it on GB I made a nice profit . I liked the little gun and did very well with it on the skeet field and in the dove field . But as you mention this configuration is rather LIGHT and unless you have your head in the game it can be very whippy . I have another 20 Sterlingworth with 28” that is a bit easier to shoot well even though it’s choked M/F and the 26” was IC/M .

Mine is 28 inches. Foxes and Parkers complement each other well.

I have a very early AE 20 with 30 inch barrels. The card says the ejectors are "experimental". Like the Sterlingworth I bet it tips the scale at 6lbs +/-. I have come to the Fox's a bit late in the game:whistle:

I kind of started with Foxes when I had my custom Sterly 16 built. Still a very pretty gun that I shoot well, and just 6 lbs with 30” barrels. My collecting has now been focused on Parkers, although I also have been trying to fill in representitve examples of each gauge gun from the other “majors” Smith, Ithaca, Fox, Baker and LeFever.

This little sterly feels great, and I think I will like it on flushing birds, quail, snipe etc. i have quite a collection of small bore 24” and 26” guns, as I prefer those for flushing and snap shooting.

I love the compactness and simplicity of the Fox guns, and the durability. You seldom see a fox that has been shot out of its stock.

I find that very hard to believe - unless a very seriously uninformed seller finds himself in dire need of cash.

Sorry Craig, we disagree on this issue.





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First I will say that I am immune to the allure of ejector guns, as I prefer extractors. Most of the ejector guns I own have had the shell chuckers disabled. I keep a 12 ga O/U, and an LC Smith 12, Ideal grade, SST With the ejectors working so I have guns to shoot flurries in competitions.

I will readily admit that I am a bargain hunter, and at times, that is my demise...but, often, it is not. This is a really nice 26” Sterly, and I paid around $900 for it, shipped! That being said, I have looked for one for a bargain price for about 10 years.

The seller was a pawn shop, and naive about what they had.

At the moment one VHE 28" and a Sterlingworth 28" a month or two ago I had a Smith Field grade ejector that was also 28" but that one stayed with me maybe 2 weeks and I never fired it before it left the house .

Won't say I'm immune as a matter of fact up until the last 10 or so years I liked the idea of ejector guns . ESPECIALLY on grouse and or dove guns (thinking I needed to be able to reload a lot quicker don't you know LOL's) . Now speed in reloading is not quite as important to me as being able to hang on to the empties . 10 and 16 gauge hulls are hard enough to get so I darn sure don't wanna throw them on the ground and possibly loose them or forget to pick them up .

When I first played the skeet and trap games I was saving every hull I shot regardless of how many times I'd shot it . Later in my competitive career I took great joy in cracking my K-32 open and watching the hulls fly regardless of whether they'd been reloaded ten times or were factory new :rotf: