Fox Collectors

On one of my Foxes, the right barrel will not fire every 10th shot or so. Left works just fine. Right works fine most of the time, but, on like every 10th shot, it will not fire. I will open and check and there is a dent on the primer, but apparently not enough to fire. Often I will put the same shell back in and it will fire the next try.

Any idea what is going on? Recommendations on what to do and which gunsmith specializes in that kind of work.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Mills just shoot nine times with the barrel and then snap it on 10th! Sorry I could not resist.Bill Schwarz in Ellijay 706 276 7668 can fix it.Tell him I told you to call. Bobby

Ha ha! That is a good idea. Thanks for the recommendation.

Factory or reloaded shells? Possibly you are short stroking the re-cocking? Maybe a weak hammer spring?

Mike

I did a repair on a 20 Sterlingworth that was doing this exact same thing a couple of years ago, except it would miss every 4 shot or so. Ended up being weak main springs. A call to Pumpkin Mountain for new springs and a couple hours later and no more misfires. Really really not hard to do once you get past the mandatory gotta have the right screwdrivers to not tear up the screw slots deal. After that it's pretty straight forward. One way you can check to see if this is the case or if your running into super hard primers, run the penny test, that'll tell you for sure what's happening. If you want a hand, just let me know. Good luck. Jim

Thanks guys. The weak spring makes a lot of sense. I replaced a firing pin in an old Parker once before, so this might not be beyond my pay grade. Duck season is getting real close down here, so time to get ready.

Mills, I have only had this happen when firing reloads, never on a factory shell like RSTs.

Mike

These are run of the mill factory loads

It's really not hard, good screwdrivers and a vise are a must. Then don't forget the teeny tiny little screws that hold the cross pins in place, and you'll need some way to compress the hammer, stirrup and spring so the pin can be slid back into place. Not hard to do, but need to be creative about it, I use a pair of giant channel locks and a piece of rubber to keep from marking up the receiver. Once you get it opened up and see how it all fits together it'll make sense to you. If you managed to get that madness from Meridian apart and back together again, you'll be singing the Philly praises even more so, they are far far far simpler to work on, in my opinion anyway. Don't even get me started on the insanity that is taking apart and re-assembling anything from Fulton, good god those things are ridiculous to work on. But again, you need a hand, let me know, I can walk you through it, really not hard. Good luck. Jim

Mills, I suggest sending your gun to a recognized Fox gunsmith like Dan Rossiter or Brian Dudley for a hands on inspection before trying to change out a hammer spring(s) yourself. Especially if the gun is an ejector. Mainsprings can lose compression rate over time but ime only the very weakest are suspect when trying to troubleshoot misfires. There are other possible/interelated causes for the problem you described but I don't think it can be fully diagnosed over the internet; to use an old saying you might waste time chasing the wrong rabbit. If you can wait until the Southern next spring I'll be happy to look at your Fox then.

Ok. If Brian can do it that is great as we use him all the time