Fox Collectors

Were most of the higher grades (no recoil pad) supplied with the standard Fox Buttplate? I've heard of a scarce few made with skeleton buttplate, but never anything else. Thanks much.

Yes, the standard Fox buttplate was pretty much the deal. I do seem to remember reading an article in the DGJ years back about a very high grade gun with a "custom" buttplate...animals or something.

There was the "widow's peak" buttplate used on some SP(E) grade guns of the mid 30's era. Some of those guns had a checkered butt instead of any buttplate.

I dont recall seeing any other grade with a checkered butt.... but there's no reason why someone couldnt have ordered one.

I know of a HDE ordered with a straight grip and checkered butt. However the gun now sports a Beckeresque full pistol grip stock and a Jostam Hy-Gun pad. The skeleton butt plate was an extra cost option, and I've even found an order or two calling for one on an A-Grade. Usually if a C-Grade or higher has a regular butt plate the screw heads are engraved.

Off topic, maybe, but I have seen Parker Brothers orders for skeleton buttplates billed out to Hunter Arms Company. I have not seen one billed to the Fox Gun Company or Savage Arms. I guess possibly Fox made their own skeleton butts, but I would bet against it. The few Foxes made with skeleton butts makes me think they probably bought them from Parker. In one 1931 Parker order to Hunter Arms Company, skeleton buttplates were 64 cents each. That was 75 cents minus a 15% trade discount.

True A.H. Fox Gun Co. skeleton butt plates are a bit different shaped then Parker Bros. skeleton butt plates. Tom Kidd showed us this in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Ten, Issue 1, Page 126.

How about some pictures of a Fox skeleton butt plate? I've never seen one.

Mike

Tony Galazan had a nice lettered skeleton butt gun at a show a few years ago. I think it was a DE two barrel set.

This is an original Fox skeleton. It's on a XE (16) 2 bbl set with D style checkering...all documented.

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Whoooeee! Very nice Tom. Looks a little too clean though. You need to send that beauty to me for a field test. I'll send her back with a little Missippi mud worked in.

Mike

That beautiful butt ain't never been on the ground! Bobby

Bill,

According to my notes the gun Tony had at The Vintage Cup (about 2002 or 2003?) was serial number 19481, a 30-inch DE-Grade with half-pistol grip stock with the skeleton butt. Along with it was an FE-Grade 30-inch half-pistol grip with a crushed Silvers pad, serial number 17044. As I recall they didn't make it past mid-day Friday. Right across the tent Butterfields had a capped full pistol grip FE serial number 3000, along with a Remington EE P138537 and a Special 400005. Somewhere else at that VC was a DE-Grade serial 14562 with a set of 28-inch Krupp barrels and a set of 30-inch Chromox barrels. It had a straight grip and according to my notes a late style butt plate with unengraved screws. That was a great Vintage Cup!!

Dave

These guns have to be somewhere. The Vintage Cup is usually a good place for them to be. Those buttplates don't look much different from a Parker. The two raw buttplates pictured in the Norman Strebe gun article don't look much different either. Kidd mentions that a Parker buttplate would have a serial number. He was referring to custom installations done outside the factory. If Fox bought raw buttplates from Parker Brothers, they would not be numbered.

Today we're back to discussing skeleton buttplates, so I thought I would bring this thread back to the top so everyone could see Tom W.'s skeleton buttplate. On the topic of whether these companies like A.H. Fox built their own skeleton buttplates for the one in ten thousand need for one, I have a Parker Brothers order in my files where Hunter Arms ordered a skeleton buttplate, just one.
T

Eightbore -- thanks for the resurrection of this thread. Much appreciated.

Here is a picture of the carved butt on my "DE". This gun letters "Without Buttplate"