Another show,another gun.
 

I acquired another double at a local show this past weekend.It just seemed like a neat gun I wanted to try.Its an early A Grade Fox with 32 inch barrels both of which have .036 restriction,a single trigger,ejectors, no safety,straight stock with nice figure,original 2 5/8 chambers.The gun is tight and fits me perfectly.Stock has a minor Crack I need to address but that's about it.Should be fun on a sporting clay course this summer.Jeff.

That’s a great looking Fox! Whose single trigger is in the gun? Can you determine that?

I really don't know a thing about single triggers.This is the first double I have other than being a newer gun to have a single trigger.I take that back,I have an Ithaca super ten with a single trigger also.I could post a close up picture if that could help determine.

Couple pics of the trigger and missing safety.I wouldn't know if it came this way or was converted.The guy that had it said the trigger and ejectors worked good and I took his word for it.

mighty nice find....charlie

Really nice Jeff! I like and own a couple first year As myself. I'm really envious of that straight stock on your's!Good find!!

Oh single trigger , straight grip , tight chokes AND no safety that one would go to the pigeon ring :cheers:

I feel pretty confident that the gun started life with a safety and the single selective trigger and the butt stock are newer than the gun. An original no-safety Ansley H. Fox wouldn't have the word SAFE engraved on the tang, but a bit of engraving to mask the plug in the slot. You could get a copy of the production card, if the serial number is above 9648, if you are a member of the A.H. Fox Collectors Association, Inc.

Thanks for the compliments and the info.I think it's a really neat gun.I don't care at all if it's original.I have a few others that aren't either but they are neat guns and have taken a rooster or a duck or a goose or were fun to shoot at clay pigeons.I bought another newer A Grade from the same person a few years ago and enjoy shooting it.This guy had another nice A grade with 32 inch barrels and the rest all conventional but had refinished the stock and got really carried away with the sand paper.This gun has evidence of that also.He also had a neat grade 3 Fox also with 32 inch barrels but had cut the stock short and refinished it too.I passed up a Sterlingworth a couple years ago with straight stock and 32 inch barrels and have regretted it ever since and when I spotted this gun,and pulled it up and it fit great,it was going home with me.If something didn't work right I would get it fixed.I think it will be one of my favorite guns.The stock dims on this gun are 1 1/2 comb and 2 1/8 heel at 14 3/8 lop.

Has anyone identified that single trigger? I've seen a few Parkers with that selector slide.

Couple more pics.All numbers match,has 1 weight barrels with small white center bead, a Bradley type front which I'm sure is a replacement.I really dought if this gun being an A Grade would have come with this nice of stock,but the forearm seemed to match pretty well so it didn't seem to matter.I know this gun has had some work done to it, I'm only about half it's age and I've had some work done to me too.Im tickled to have gotten it bought.I think I'm still a current member of LC Smith,but have never looked into Fox Collectors Assn.Jeff

A couple others I have.The bottom gun in the picture was also purchased from the same gentleman a couple years ago and was choked IC and Mod.The case colors on this gun are vibrant.The upper gun was an internet purchase a couple months ago and has some nice dark figured wood as well.These are both 30 inch guns and fit great also.

You really do want to join the A.H. Fox Collector's Association, Inc. and get a copy of the production card.

https://www.foxcollectors.com/sign-up

Cheaper than a letter from Cody --

https://centerofthewest.org/explore/...ecords/savage/

Well I'll just have to join them too I guess.I see on the upper tang a small slot was filled where the safety was.I shot it today and the trigger switch moves but right barrel fires first either position.And the left ejector isn't working either so needs a little work.

The slot for the safety slide in the tang must be something done early in the production of frames, as I've yet to see a no-safety Remington, Parker Bros. or Ansley H. Fox that doesn't have the slot filled.

It looks like it went back for the single trigger and conversion to no safety. Early triggers and ejectors can be tricky to get straightened out. Good luck with your Fox. Drop me a PM, I have some interesting information on your gun.

Nice find Jeff. You might want to post a front end pic of the frame knuckle to show if she has the early style Fox & Horne ejectors or the newer Russell Patent ejectors. Russell Patent parts are much more easily found if needed, though ime it's often just a matter of evaluating and tinkering to get the Russell ejector(s) to cock and trip on time.

Here's a couple more pics of ejectors and frame,if someone can determine what I have.The trigger works good,just doesn't switch from right to left barrel,which really doesn't matter as both chokes are the same.It fires the right barrel first.I have only fired it once so maybe both ejectors work some time.I want to get a Crack in the stock fixed before I shoot it very much. Looks like 1911 production by serial number. Thanks for any info.Jeff

Check your pm's.

Thanks Jeff for posting the pics. You have the Fox & Horne so-called 1st generation ejectors. Some of these earlier Foxes were changed out to the Russell Patent system, but not yours. Supposedly that was because of reliability issues but I’ve owned a few F&H Ejector Foxes and all but one were fully functional. Hopefully yours will prove to be too because if it needs parts they’re pretty much unobtainable and must be renewed/made in a well equipped machine shop.

Those barrels must be replacement barrels. A gun in that serial number range would have started life with Krupp barrels, but I see the D with a three-lobed crown over it mark on the bottom of the tubes, not the --FLUID-STEEL-KRUPP-ESSEN-- we would expect to see.

Attachment 115601

They sure are replacement barrels,these are a lot newer than the gun.Ive got another first Gen A Grade with Krupp barrels.That gun is all original and very nice shape,but boring,this gun is interesting.

Numbers match from receiver to barrels and forend iron,and measuring chambers with galazan gauge they appear shorter than 2 3/4 which looks factory stamped on the barrels.I wonder how many times this thing has been in the shop.I have my old high school car yet,it's had 3 motors,3 rearends and 4 different 4 speeds put in it since I've owned it but it runs pretty good yet too.Pretty sure this is the most pictures I've ever taken of one of my guns.

Johnny Cash must have put this one together out of his lunch pail.

I wasn't "picking the gun apart." Just stating my observations. A straight grip gun with 32-inch 1-weight barrels is quite popular in today's market.

We're all good.Without stating a dollar amount I've only got in it what a remington 1100 20 gauge is worth.You don't see many 32 inch foxes in my area, other than the 2 others the guy had that I bought this one from.He had the stocks sanded down so the receiver was proud about 1/8 of an inch on both the others.If it wouldn't have been for that they would have all come home with me.Ill have a lot of fun with this one.Jeff

what kind of car do you have....charlie

Willing to bet that's a Kautzky single trigger. My Parker had one on it that the selector looked just like the one on your fox

Charlie, it's a 67 Chevy Impala with a built up 327 and factory 4 speed,custom paint,very few parts original kind of like some guns I have but it sure is fun to cruise in.John, I received some info from another that it is indeed a Kautzky trigger and this gun is quite possibly one that Kautzky experimented with. Jeff

sounds like a fun car.....charlie

AE Fox
 

Obviously, you did well Jeff. Nice guns and whoever restocked the subject gun did a nice job with some beautiful wood. Congratulations on the find..

No doubt several of the Fox Fanatics with access to the Record Cards will agree that this Fox may be one on which Josef Kautzky did some prototype single trigger work. The button on the shift slide appears to be a pre-full production example. Typically the production buttons were larger and offset a bit from the slide.

I joined the Fox Collectors yesterday and requested the build card.The card reads it wax shipped on 6/15, and by the serial number the gun should be a 1911,it originally had 30 inch barrels,ejectors,Kautzky trigger and straight stock with about identical dims as the current one.Ive been told it may have been used for that trigger development,which makes it an interesting gun.The best thing is of the many doubles I have,this one just fits great when I pull it up.Not many I have fit like that.Its going to be fun on the clay course and I'll bet it gets me a limit of Roosters next fall.Of the guns I have I can't really call any of them my favorite.Maybe this one will be it.Thanks for everyone's input and info.Jeff

I hope your Kautzky trigger works better than the one on my Parker. I ended up taking it off and putting double triggers back on. Mine had a bad habit of doubling.

Hi John, I've yet only fired it once and the trigger felt good.Hope it doesn't double.I need to get a Crack in the stock addressed first before I feel comfortable shooting it much.Ive had a stock off of a Sterlingworth a couple years ago and don't remember just how it came apart,if the trigger was involved with dissasembly.By advise here I don't want to mess with the trigger at all.It might just sit here a while till I figure things out.I have a couple other guns I'm working on currently anyway.

I hope it works great for you as well. Just keep in mind if it does double, the trigger may be the culprit.

From your pictures it appears that the trigger is in the righthand slot and the selector in the left. When A.H. Fox Gun Co. finally brought out their Fox-Kautzky Single Selective Trigger in 1914, they did it the other way with the trigger in the left slot and the selector in the right.

Attachment 115667

Joe Kautzky had at least three patents for single triggers -- No. 827,242 granted July 1, 1906; No. 990,562 granted Apr. 25, 1911 and No. 1,109,632 granted Sept. 1, 1914.

It gets more interesting all the time,yep the trigger is in the right slot and selector in left.At least the gun still opens by pressing the release lever to the right. Maybe further proof this was experimental gun with that trigger.Worst case it sounds like it could be switched back to double trigger,ejectors disabled and safety reinstalled. Don't think that will happen by me though. Thanks for info Dave, Jeff

> posted in error, deleted

I'm a former Fox Director and have copies of the Record Cards. Looked at yours last evening; maybe I missed it but I didn't see an entry for a Kautzky trigger - though it did show the Fox was shipped to Kautzky. Typically no entry for trigger means double triggers by default.