Fell off the Wagon!
 

Although I pledged to myself that this year would be about completing gun projects and gun maintenance, and that I would refrain from buying any guns this year...I have already strayed.

Picked up this very cute little Philly Fox Sterlingworth 20, 26" original barrels, the gun turned out to be very nice...bored almost perfect, choked IC/M, nice high dimensions, especially for a Fox, 3 weight barrels. the gun weighs a hair over 5 1/2 lbs.

These are sellers pics, will provide more when I can get around to it...gun much better in person...quite a bit of case color remaining...

Happy with this one!

Like W C Fields said, giving up drinking is easy. I've done it a thousand times.

The only way you are going to stop buying guns is to quit looking at guns for sale. There is always a good looking deal somewhere!

Ken

Mark - I sent you a PM.





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had many sterlingworths over the years, have 2 now ,hard to beat for the money.

Mark,
You made almost 3 months, that's pretty damn good...........:rotf::rotf:

Yeah well...the day after I bought this gun, I bought a VH 12 with an aftermarket beavertail forearm, that a friend decided to test and see how much she could reduce the price, and MAKE me buy the damn gun....

I have a feeling that gun will be on the "for sale" section soon!

frank aloia

I have stayed away from the web sites and so far so good........if I can make it through the Southern I'm golden:whistle:

frank aloia

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:

I'm with you in the short barrel bird choked guns or atleast what was referred to as bird chokes when we were all young IC/M .

Now what I'd really really really like are Parker EH 10's with factory original 24" and 26" barrels !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :whistle:

OMG I need to excuse myself I was thinking about EH 10's with those short barrels and REALLY got excited LOL's !

I may have found my 410 hammer gun. There is an Army & Navy with 30 inch barrels available:eek:

go get it!

I await the return call as the seller is out of town.

I came by my disdain of ejector guns honestly. My Dad reloaded religiously. He would dole out shells to my brother and I at the start of any hunt....dove ducks or quail, generally a box of 25 at a time. At the end of the hunt, we were expected to return as many empties as we shot. If the count was off, off we would be sent to look for the missing hull, although it was acceptable in those cases to return any spent shell. Cows had a thing for trying to eat those paper hulls for some reason, and on top of that, my Dad would try and get as many loadings of those old Alcan paper hulls as possible!

Be very, very quiet my friend about the smallbore Foxes. They are the best handling smallbores I have ever shot and their prices have'nt caught up with Parkers........yet!:nono:

You are cracking me up Brother. Earlier in this thread you were staying away from the websites and if you could just make it through the Southern you were golden. You are a real Rock. Thank goodness I'm not weak like that.:rotf:

I think I need an intervention.

I'll admit that I'm WEAK and I NEED an intervention. I have failed the 12 step program so many times I'm not even allowed to participate anymore. BUT a 30 inch barreled 410 hammer gun is akin to a 32 inch 20:whistle: besides it's not that expensive compared to a $50K Purdey:shock::shock:

The only other gun that might be of interest is a DH/DHE Damascus 20 simply because I have a couple of GH/GHE's and a CHE.

My current big interest is remodeling the gun room. Better display, convenient cleaning station and good place to sit are part of the developing plan.

Mills. You might recall that I'm in the process of a similar remodel..when I mentioned the new..(to me) gun cabinet that I bought. It was delivered yesterday. 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Made in 2 pieces..bottom part was not bad.. Top part..not so easy. Had to get the neighbor and another friend to unload it in the garage. Then I thought.."how in the hell am I going to get this upstairs ?". I called one of those 2 Men and a Truck guys..and they are going to come move it. My wife had.."No Comment !"

Mine will be happy as the current situation is a real mess

COB

There is a small pool that was started among your beloved friends as soon as you said "I'm Golden....."
Except every one of us took the under.

Did exactly the same thing 2 months ago, but waited til Robin was outof town!

Very nice. My goal is volume to hold the ones I have with some "growing room."

This is the volume cabinet...holds guns in two rows

That is nice.

that cabinet is really helpful as it holds 30 guns.

I wish I could find a cabinet like both those! Very nice.

I like guns displayed vertical with a light background. Here is my Parker wall. I have a Fox wall, a Super Fox wall and Elsie wall. Works for me. Parkers from top to bottom, DHE 12ga 3 frame 30, DH 10ga 3 frame 30 with fishtail, CHE 12ga 3 frame 32 Damascus, CH 10ga 3 frame 30 Bernard, BH 12ga 2 frame 30, AH 10ga 3 frame 32 Damascus, DH 20ga 0 frame 26.