My friend showed up for a morning of bird dog training with this sweet 16-gauge Fox Sterlingworth. This is a very clean, original gun, circa 1924, and is a real pleasure to shoot. Though I have admired them for many years, this was my first opportunity to shoot a Fox.
Crisp lettering on what appears to be rust blued barrels indicates this gun was made in Philidelphia PA, before the purchase of the company by Savage Arms and the move to Utica, NY.
A splinter forearm still with excellent checkering. This gun has been well taken care of and maintained for almost ten decades.
All screws are perfect.
To me, Fox guns have perfect proportions and exquisite style. This gun’s weight and balance were just right; partly, I am sure to it being in the marvelous 16 gauge.
Hard to believe this gun is 96 years old!
A well-trained dog!
Tex, on a hard point.
Armas Garbi 28-gauge. Another sweet-shooting bird gun.
Birdhunter 
Great post. Thanks for sharing those wonderful guns with us.
Now I’m curious….I wonder how their current “A-Grade” Fox shotgun compares with the classic Fox guns, like the one seen here.
Thank you, Dean! Gregg Elliot, from “dogsanddoubles.com,” did an excellent podcast on this exact subject on the Project Upland site. You should check it out. He likes the new gun and thinks with the modern design (anson & deeley), materials, and manufacturing that it is superior. But know that the new A-Grade has little in common with an original Fox. It is a repurposed RBL made by CSMC for Savage. So I am not sure a comparison is meaningful as they are very different guns. I handled an A-Grade at Cabelas a year or so ago and was not impressed. It is not as graceful or as elegant as a Fox, and the finishes were not appealing, at least to me. That doesn’t mean the A-Grade isn’t a great gun; it will most likely have better, more shootable dimensions; modern chamber lengths and it won’t be 100 years old. It just is not a Fox if that is what you are looking for.
Beautiful gun, excellent photos. Acquired an Ithaca manufactured Lefever 16 gauge several years ago and enjoy bird hunting with it very much. Made in 1928. dispatchesfromanortherntown.com/2013/12/28/36 Not a Fox, but a “working man’s double gun” that still brings down birds after nearly 100 years. Hope you enjoyed the blue quail (scaled quail) hunt. I could never get them to hold to point up north of Marathon in the Permian Basin.
Thanks, Jerry! There is something very special about hunting with these American classic bird guns! The quail hunts were great, of course not enough birds, but that was the theme for the season. Next year I am sure we will see tons of birds! Those scalies never hold. We spent most of our time running after those little bastards instead of shooting over classic points. Come to think of it, I don’t think we had even one good point out of any dog. Thanks for visiting!
I just acquired the same gun ! I’m hooked
Great! Now one of your most rewarding vices!
I recently acquired one that is not in the greatest of shape on the outside but mechanically sound. With a little love and tender care I plan on a grouse hunt in the fall. After reading this I’m now back in my youth. Thank you. JRM