Fox Collectors

Semi-annual wiping down guns in the safe day: here's an English grip CE 16 bore with no safety. It has 4-weight barrels which are 28 inches long and choked .014/XF (gauge will not go into the barrel!). For you more knowledgeable folks out there, how rare do you suppose this is?
(Sorry the pictures are so poor, but I was in a hurry to get through the project).

Thats a spectacular Fox, rare or not! I hope you'll post more pictures before it gets put away. WOW, im speechless!

Early snap on forearm ejector with escutcheon. First C grade I've seen with the escutcheon engraved that way. WOW

Some early smallbores had tight bores and kicked badly! Bobby

Could this gun be "Nash's quail gun" Jim

Jim Cloninger wrote:Could this gun be "Nash's quail gun" Jim

I wish!!!

Wow what a gem

What we think of as the "classic" Plantation Quail Gun" would have more open chokes then that. Perhaps for a women or young person to shoot Flyers? Obviously, whatever it was for, it didn't do it much!!

I'm enjoying the theories. I've owned this gun for 17 years. I bought it when I had the "I gotta have a small frame straight/splinter two-trigger Fox lust." I was disappointed that it did not have a safety at the time I got it...not so much now. Just for reference for for those of you who know more than I (most everyone) and keep track, the serial number on this gun is: 3000589. It has a very dark piece of wood with nice figure. It has a HRBP and a single metal bead. I don't have the weight noted in my log, but it's pretty light (not as light as an A grade 16 that I own that has #4 barrels and weighs in at well under 6 lbs.!), having 28" #3 barrels. I always assumed it was for some kind of competition shooting, but it does not seem to have the weight for that. I recall the DGJ article about Aldo Leopold's fox and his aversion to safeties, so maybe it was someone who like tight chokes and couldn't abide a safety. I'll get the card, if one exists, in my next cycle. It's an interesting gun.

That gun is painfully rare. I can't wait for the card.

I would be interested in seeing the engraving of the dog on this 'late style' gun.

Not a good photo, but it's what I have at the moment. Sorry.

Most sxs vintage guns that left the factory with no safery were called live bird guns. Made when live pigeon shooting you didn't have to worry about having a mishap by fooling with the safety

Philly Fox wrote:Most sxs vintage guns that left the factory with no safery were called live bird guns. Made when live pigeon shooting you didn't have to worry about having a mishap by fooling with the safety

Hey, thanks for your reply. Do you by chance know of any live bird guns documented with a letter, etc. that were in 16 gauge and 6 lbs. or under? I always understood live bird guns to be heavier to absorb the recoil better (and, generally, in a larger gauge), but it would be interesting to know of any documented small bore intended for live bird shooting. I'm still going with the theory that it was ordered by someone who just didn't care for safeties (like the Leopold gun). The gun has high dimensions for the time it was made, so it seems clear (at least to me) that it was made for rising "birds." It's fun to speculate.

I would bet my money on its intention were for live pigeon shooting. I have a LC Smith 20 ga. Ejectors with no safety. A lot of people have questioned why a 20 Ga. Live bird gun ? A lot of us have concluded it was ordered for a woman or a child. I would think in live bird shooting you would want a light, quick handling gun that had as many things that could cause a mishap or a missed bird eliminated from the picture. The other thing of importance was how fast you could fire, reload and fire again accurately & efficiently. I would think if you were handling a gun that's somewhat on the heavy & cumbersome side it would take a toll on the shooter. I believe the serious shooters shot many many shots in a gathering, From what I've learned there was a lot of betting in the day at live bird shoots with some high steaks involved