The Super-Fox is one of America’s legendary shotguns. Famous outdoor writer and sportsman Nash Buckingham raved about it’s ability on high birds. He loved the loved the gun so much that he named it “Bo Whoop” because of the unique sound it made when fired.
The A.H. Fox company offered the Super-Fox from 1923 to 1940. In one of their catalogs, the company wrote: “The long distance shooting Gun built especially for close patterns at extra range…gives patterns never before attained at forty, fifty and sixty yards and above….”
In his book A.H. Fox: The Finest Gun in the World, Michael McIntosh wrote “…The Super-Fox was the product of several minds, all focused on the remarkably complex problem involved in getting a shotgun to reliably deliver a high percentage of its shot to roughly the same place at any distance beyond forty yards. It was also the product of technologies unknown before and of splendid talents brought together at precisely the right time.”
A.H. Fox brought in Burt Becker to build the first of these doubles. Becker was a well-known gunsmith with a gift for boring barrels. In describing Becker’s contributions to the Super Fox, McIntosh wrote:
“Becker clearly understood the advantage of keeping a gunbarrel free from abrupt changes in diameter, and his solution involves a three-fold approach. First, Super-Fox chambers are bored to extremely close tolerances, and most will not accept a cartridge that is even slightly oversized. There also is a bit more taper in the Super-Fox chambers than in the average gun’s. Becker’s forcing cones are 3/4-inch long and obliquely angled, so that shot columns are eased rather than squeezed into the bores. Finally, to reduce the difference between chamber and bore diameters even further, Becker overbored the barrels. A 12-gauge Super-Fox has nearly 11-gauge bores.”
The A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Wildfowl was made up from leftover HE-grade Super-Fox actions and barrels. It was offered from 1934 to around 1940. I don’t think many of them were made, and if this one is as good as it looks, it may be the best one out there.
NOTE: In his original listing, the seller calls this gun a “Fox Waterfowl Grade (XE) Sterlingworth” and says it “…is basically a Super Fox XE.” This is incorrect. I believe he meant to say “HE” instead of “XE”. I made the correction below.
Fox Waterfowl Grade (HE) Sterlingworth Near Mint: Amazing, near mint, late production Fox Sterlingworth side by side in little known Wildfowl Grade. A rare grade and gun is all original in near mint condition. The case coloring is some of the best I have seen on a Fox shotgun. Beautiful dark walnut in forend and stock, which has original, period correct, Jostam Mfg. red rubber pad. Original blue on 30 inch Full/Full choked barrels with ejectors. Action snaps shut tight like a vault door. Length of pull is 14 inches with 2 3/4 inch drop at heel. Take down those high flyers like Bo-Whoop’s cousin should!! Price: $7,000
