Fox Collectors

I was rereading the spring 1995 Double Gun Journal and came across an article by Tom Kidd, "Small Bores Revisited"that references the rare "Diamond Grip" which is a grip that is diamond shaped as opposed to the normal oval contour found on regularly shaped Fox guns. In the article, he states that he has only ever seen three. Two XE's and a very early B. He states you feel it before you see it, that it "is very pronounced, and it is unique shape is clearly communicated to one's hand when a gun so equipped is handled. If one were to cut through a diamoned gripped gun's wrist, they would find that the cross section of that grip would be shaped like a diamond".

Has anyone ever seen one of these before? I was wondering if anyone ever looked up a card and saw a special mention on the card or seen a reference to a diamond shaped grip on any card..

I tried a search of our recent forum archive but came up blank, but I thought a lot of stuff was lost due to server problems a while ago so who knows.

Anybody out there have any information to share?

Good question/topic. I've never owned one. I do recall handling a gun with a diamond grip and TK is right on saying that you feel it before you see it. Unfortunately, I dont have much to offer beyond that.

tjw

Never seen one on a Fox (other than TK's article) but I do have a high grade Husqvarna 16 ga with this. The grip is small so possibly these were done on small grips for extra strength?

Mike

I had a 20g XE that I sold this summer. It was a Galazan Fox. It had the diamond shape grip you are describing. The grip does have a nice solid feel when you are holding it.
terc

The diamond grip is an interesting feature to request from a custom stockmaker. However, I would be scared to death that he would not get it right. I will try it on my next project.

Handled a 28 Gauge Diamond Grip Galazan Fox last year with that style grip. Felt weird to me. I also owned a 28 Gauge Merkel with the Diamond Grip and wasn't a fan of that one either. Probably more mental then anything else.

I had a Galazan XE 20g with one and I have a Purdey with one. I like them.

This one at Robin Hollow seems to be diamond-shaped: