Fox A grade 16 gauge returned to field use
 

Being the bottom feeder that I am, I am always looking to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. *A few weeks ago I wandered into an early A grade 16 Gauge with late style engraving on an auction site. *I say early style because it had the snap on forums which weren't around that long. *Snap on forearms with late style engraving are probably even harder to find. *The gun itself was mechanically in pretty sad shape (parts were missing). *The stock was also in sad shape. *It had been cut and then a cocobolo piece of wood added to lengthen the pull. *That work was actually pretty good. *Except whomever in their quest for perfection in a refinish and re-checker had also sanded the buttstock well below the metal on the receiver. *

The one thing that made me pull the trigger and purchase the gun was the barrels were Krupp steel and they hadn't been messed with. *I confirmed that by having a copy of the work order card sent to me before I bid. *Anyway, did the bid and won the auction. *Had it last week (Wed) shipped directly to Dan Rossiter at Custom Stocks and Steel. *

Yesterday Dan and I got together and measured the barrels and they passed with flying colors. *.039 Min barrel wall thickness and both chokes at .023. *Bores on both was .653. *I would have been happy with my purchase right then. *Graded Fox barrels don't grow on tree's and these are nice and by themselves worth what I paid for the gun IMO. *However, Dan likes a challenge and wanted to know if I wanted to turn this into shooter for this year. *At 6 lbs 2 oz (according to the work order card) it seemed like a no brainer provided Dan could scavenge enough parts around the shop to make it work. *Well, 4 plus hours later it was done. *Dan added all the required parts. *Worked to make everything work together as it should and the trigger pulls were set a 4 lbs (front) and 4.5 (rear). *He had to make a couple of parts (rear tang screw) and an internal action part during the process. *He also cut off the Cocobolo extension and added a salvaged orginal Jostam pan that already had a 1/4" spacer to make the length what I would need (14.5").

All done, its not the ugliest (or most lovely) gun I've hunted with. *I'm going to have to add something to the comb so I can use it this year (its got 3" DAH), but that's fine. *Down the road we will do something with it for sure, but in the meantime its an absolute rainy day Fox. *Anyway, a few before and after pictures:

Where we started:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL141.../406961122.jpg

Dan doing his thing with the action:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL141.../406961928.jpg


Where we finished (or should I say where Dan finished. *I watched a lot and told stories):

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL141.../406961121.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL141.../406961119.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL141.../406961298.jpg

Great story and outcome. Nice work. Craig

mighty nice fox...and are nt we thankful for friends like dan....he does good work but you already knew that...wish we could have heard the stories... charlie

I get up to see Dan about 3 times a year. Everytime I'm up we are talking projects or hunting. He's organized, professional and he can flat out figure things out. I think that Fox action came apart about ten times in those 4 hours. He would get it all together and then something wouldn't feel right to him. He must have worked on the trigger sears for an hour bending and stoning to get everything right. Pulling parts our of various bins and building the guts on these things isn't for the meek minded for sure. While I was there I finally got him to pose with the Abby Gun and here's a link for it. We also have 3 other projects in the mix as I write this. Two foxes and a restock of a mannlicher. I'm just one of many clients, but I like working with Dan and he lets my imagination run wild and then reels me back in. The Abby gun was his first foray into a custom bird gun and my goodness it really came together.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL59.../406959580.jpg

Tom what would be the serial number of a 16 gauge Fox with late engraving and a snap on forearm?

I love those A grade 16's. I was looking at an A 20 this weekend but the LOP was 13 " and they were asking 5 grand.
I also have an A grade 16 that was in sad shape when I bought it and it was my rain gun until I had her cleaned up. I have never seen one wiyh a snap-on fore arm.
Here's mine: ser#300640 28" barrels 6 lbs 4oz.

I've been recording observed guns and looking for the transitions in the early Ansley H. Fox graded smallbores. In the 16-gauge guns the new "Gough" engraving begins appearing in the 30022x range, but the first gun with a Deeley lever forearm I've recorded is 300450, but the snap-on/off forearms exist at least into the 30049x range.

Harold, does your 300640 have Krupp or Chromox barrels?

In the 20-gauge guns the engraving changes somewhere between 200240 and 200323. The earliest 20-gauge I've handled, which has been displayed at our A.H. Fox Collectors Association, Inc. booth at The Vintage Cup a couple of times is 200002, a CE-Grade, and it has the Deeley forearm latch as does 200097.

Afternoon Bill,

300320. Got the order card on it and it weighs 6 lb 2 oz.

Tom, went back to look at your "Abbey" gun, what a wonderful tribute.
Dave, my A was ordered in Sept 1916 (card look-up) and has Krupp barrels and the latch forend.

Thanks for your replies guys. One more question for Tom. Which style of snap-on/off forearm does 300320 have? The J.C. Kremer & A.H. Fox Patent No. 1,029374 style with the fixed forearm lug on the barrels and the spring-loaded roller in the forearm iron? Or, the F.T. Russell Patent No. 1,029,229 with a roller fixed in the forearm iron and the spring-loaded latch in the forearm lug?

The same as this one: http://foxcollectors.com/My%20Forum/...7&hilit=kremer

PS. I'm going to restock it at some point. Circassian I guess would be more correct, but I've got a piece of California English that is whispering in my right ear. :)