Sterlingworth

[Bob Brown]

Jack, I had some photos of that Sterlingworth sent to me about a month back and considered buying it. In my opinion the stock itself was a replacement, though I'm not an expert and some here could set me straight. I didn't think the stock cheeks were defined enough and the checkering didn't appear to go close enough to the grip cap. The grip checkering panel was shaped a bit wrong too.
Since we're telling secrets I'm also a Fox Collectors Association member and have a few 32" Sterlingworths and several 30" pin guns. Excellent guns for the money they're going for, especially up here in Canada. They are great on clays, but for some reason I always seem to have a Parker in the goose blind.

[TARNATION !!!]

Good to hear from you Bob. Hope all is well. I'll have to take up migratory birds again, as it will take a few seasons of roosters to shoot my late in life SXS accumulations. Will give SC a go as well, although I'm partial to eating what I shoot.

Cheers,
Jack

[TARNATION !!!]

Okay, in the fullness of time and after enduring a postal strike this Fox did arrive at my den today. It will need some work to improve the cosmetics. And, surprise, surprise - it is an ejector gun. A brief look over at the Fox site found one person estimates 1 to 2% of Sterlingworths are ejectors. Any thoughts here on that point?
I will do a full tear down/reassembly because it is time. Anyway, another project and I already have too many projects on the go (only a couple are firearms)
Cheers,
Jack

[Brent Francis]

thanks for the post. I had taken my sterlingworth apart and saw that corregated staple or what ever it is and though it was someones repair for a split stock head

[TARNATION !!!]

Apparently it was at the discretion of the stockmaker, depending on how the specific piece of quarter sawn walnut looked after all the wood removal was done. It is supposed to strengthen that area.

[Cold Spring]

Mr. Tarnation... when "snagging" photos off the Fox forum it would be nice if you at least gave credit to the guy who took the photo, and spent time uploading and posting it, along with his take on why it was added to some but not all stocks.

Why not just add a hyperlink so that the original Fox site posting remained intact? Frank

[TARNATION !!!]

Originally Posted by Frank Srebro

Mr. Tarnation... when "snagging" photos off the Fox forum it would be nice if you at least gave credit to the guy who took the photo, and spent time uploading and posting it, along with his take on why it was added to some but not all stocks.

Why not just add a hyperlink so that the original Fox site posting remained intact? Frank

Agreed. Poor form. Here's a LINK
Jack

[TARNATION !!!]

Progress thus far:

Trigger plate removed, disassembled, gunk and rust completely eliminated, cold blued, lightly oiled and hand rubbed, re-assembled and ready to go when the rest is done.

Barrels given a good thorough clean of bores which now glisten and chime nicely. Found a number of small dents several inches from the muzzles. A little rough handling over the years. Easily raised with proper tool but I don't have one and not quite ready to lay out 400+$$. Probably just take it to the smith to have done. Removed all screws,springs, hooks,ejectors and they are soaking while I do yard work, car work, life work but they will all clean up nicely. Discovered one ejector is slightly warped. It will not easily slide into place. The other is perfect. Both are numbered to the gun. I think this arose from lack of cleaning over the years and then forcing the action closed while there was a build up of grunge, hardened oil and rust mix. Never have played with ejectors but it needs to be straightened to just drop into place, not be forced. Forcing it closed has also caused it to shine up the under rib through wearing against that surface, suggesting to me that this went on for quite a while during hunts.

I am open to suggestions on straightening the ejector shank.

I have thought of a gentle squeeze in the vise between copper jaws. If that doesn't work, I have thought about heating it a bit and redoing the gentle squeeze.

Has anyone straightened an ejector shank? It is not grossly warped, just enough that it will not seat itself without more finger pressure than I think it should need. When I push it home and watch the other end, the warped shank moves off center towards the opposite barrel, forcing the other shank to move off center closer to its barrel. The good ejector drops into place and moves straight along the under rib, as it should. Closing the action does seat both ejectors but that continues a problem that should be rectified.

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Jack

[quote=Jack Cronkhite;46309]Progress thus far:

Trigger plate removed, disassembled, gunk and rust completely eliminated, cold blued, lightly oiled and hand rubbed, re-assembled and ready to go when the rest is done. If the pin and the lugger (extractor blade ) are OK, and they are silver soldered into position on the lugger- I would have a machinist make a new shank with the key-way, right to scale from D-2, and refit it to the guide pin and lugger- if you put heat into the ejector assembly, heat always travels to the thinnest mass- overheating might cause the silver solder to break lose anyway=-- it some ways, it is way easier to straighten dents in a pipe (shotgun barrel_) than to bend back a out of alignment solid rod, no matter the metallurgy

[Jim Akins]

Jack, be careful straightening the ejector blade. If you break it they are almost impossible to find. The blade and shaft are machined as one piece. I think that I would determine where the misalignment occurs, probably going to be the blade. If so I would assemble both to the gun and use careful force to try correction (light hammer). applying heat carefully might help.