AH Fox made some lovely guns
 

From the left, DE, XE, BE, CE

There's never been a box lock with as pretty a profile as the Fox, IMO. I have always liked what Jim Carmichael wrote concerning it:


"The double-barreled shotguns made by Ansley H. Fox in his
Philadelphia factory are classics for the simple reason that
they are the most beautiful shotguns ever made in America and,
for that matter, among the most beautiful boxlock designs ever
made anywhere. Whereas the customary practice of gun invention
was to design from the inside out, often enclosing the
mechanism in a plain outer shell that required engraving or
other embellishment to be presentable, the seductive lines of
the Fox receiver suggest that it was sculpted by an artist.
Like a lush maiden shed of her arrayment, the Fox needed no
engraving to accent its sensuous contours and, indeed, the
unadorned lowest grades perhaps best showcase their elegance
of form."

Am I enamored of Philly Fox guns? .................. absolutely.

Beautiful examples, Craig. Foxes feel as good in the hand as they look to the eye.

The only Foxs’ I own are a lovely Sterlingworth 16 and a nice 2nd gen A grade 12 I haven’t had the pleasure to shoot yet. I’ve been on the lookout for a couple more graded guns. They seem a bit more elusive than Parkers.

A Fox smallbore is in my opinion is the best handling smallbore of all the smallbores I own. Next to them is my Lefever H 20. Still love my Parkers but if only Fox had made a 28....

I've NEVER EVER EVER had a smallbore in my hands that felt as good as your VHE 28 30" or Randy's . Yours is on a 00 and Randy's is on an 0 like mine . But something about the 30" barrel open up a new dimension for me :whistle:

The small bore Fox frame is much smaller in the small gauges and better looking in my opinion versus the larger Parker frame. Here is a pictures of a Fox 20ga and Parker 20ga O frame.

CL on kind of a side note do you have a good not butt kicking 12 gauge 3" 1 3/8 ounce load for your HE's ?

I've found a couple in the Alliant brochure for Herco and Blue Dot that I might adapt a bit .

Craig I don't reload 3" so I'm no help. I do shoot 1 3/8oz 2 3/4" Boss bismuth, great stuff for ducks.

I agree Craig. That little 28 is like a magic wand in your hands. My point being that the Fox 20ga frame is the same dimension as the Parker OO frame. That's why they are so svelte. Shoot my 30" or 32" Fox 20 next time we are together and you can see for yourself.

You know me well enough to know I won’t turn that offer down :cool:

I also shoot factory (BOSS) 1 3/8 oz. loads in my HE, and they have never bothered me one bit. Heck, mine is almost a 9 1/2 lb. gun. No way that load, in that gun, should bother someone who mounts it properly.

The one I got Saturday is about 9 1/2 also . Shot a round of regular skeet with it tonight and it took a bit to get online with it . Then shot a round of skeet doubles from 3 , 4 and 5 . The .045 and .055 chokes on that bad boy made doubles in the middle pretty easy !

Talking about small gauge Foxes; I was talking to a gunsmith from Ithaca Gun Company at the NRA convention in 1998 in Philadelphia. He was telling me he also did gunsmithing at his home in the evening. One of his friends gave him a 20 gauge Sterlingworth with a blown barrel about midway. He cut the barrels to about 3" and sleeved it to a 28 gauge with 28" barrels and had a very sweet shooting quail gun. It was the only 28 gauge Fox that I ever heard about until CSMC came out with their option.