• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Sitting Fox Rifles?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Farren55

40 Cal.
Joined
Nov 27, 2014
Messages
120
Reaction score
0
Looking at buying myself a sitting fox rifle (or one of their kits) anyone know what they're like?

Complaints of praises to them?
 
Agree with Grenadier to do the search. Much has already been written.

I can't talk to their kits, but in a nutshell, if you have a rifle built, be sure to understand who is going to do the build (they are farmed out to others to do), what their experience level is, then check back on the builder's reputation.

My own past experience is documented on the Forum and you'll find it in the search.
 
Sitting Fox has a great web site and the owner seems like a very nice guy and was helpful when I asked for an email estimate on a gun kit. I almost bought a Virginia style rifle kit from him. . .he has a lot of makes and options.

I am left handed so Kibler is not an option and Chambers only has two LH rifles and only the large Siler lock . . . SF uses a variety of lock options and has several LH rifle styles to choose from.

From what I have read their kits are OK, their pricing is competitive, but a built rifle depends upon the builder who made it . . . more of a roll of the dice. You can tell this buy some of his guns for sale, look closely at them before buying . some are good some just OK, but again SF has a lot of selection and decent pricing.

I went with TVM instead and was very happy with them.
 
From what I have seen and read, the kits are good. They use good parts from reputable manufacturers. But, I have read comments on this forum and other online sources that their completed rifles are not always the best work. They farm out the building of their rifles and what you get depends on the builder. Some are good and some...well, not so good. They may use good parts but the quality of their work is not always the best. If it were me, I would feel good about buying a kit but not a finished rifle from Sitting Fox. But, that's just me.
 
They farm out the building of their rifles

He may be a nice guy but I do wish he would reveal that he is not the builder.
I saw a fowler a friend bought from SF and immediately recognized it as the work of someone else. He could have saved about 50% if purchased direct from the builder. In this case it was $1500.00 compared to $750.00. :doh: I'm sure most of us would like to be able to keep that $750.00 savings.
 
I disagree. Sitting Fox is just a guy that is an enthusiast like many of the rest of us that sells guns to supplement his income. He pays people to make the guns he sells. I think many hardware stores did this in the past. Why is it important to know who built a gun anyway? It has no meaning if it is made well and serves the purpose it is intended for. Now if you want a $1500.00 gun for $750.00 you should take up bingo. You may not know it but one negative word about anyone really harms a business in today's internet world. SF doesn't deserve that. If I buy parts, have the barrel inlet, ramrod hole drilled, stock shaped, underlugs and sights dovetailed on a milling machine, barrel breeched by someone else, lock, butt plate, triggers, etc. all machined by someone else, then slap it together and slather on some finish, can I really take all the credit for building it or should I put all those names on the top flat? Most of all, this business is all about reputation. If it's important for you to brag about owning a (insert a famous maker's name here) gun when it's leaning in a rifle rack at a weekend shoot then fine. But don't drag somebody through the mud. SF offers a full guarantee on their guns. If you buy one from only seeing pictures and are dissatisfied call them immediately. Sitting Fox faqs. Nobody wants unhappy customers.

I have no dealings with SF or am not affiliated with them. I just don't think it's giving them a fair shake when someone is trying to scare their business away.
 
You do make a good point . . . It's not like there are so many ML kit and builder companies out there that we can afford to harm some and not hurt our niche sport.

I go to Sitting Fox's web site often to look around and should I build another gun in the future, they are one I would consider buying a kit from.
 
I just bough a kit from sitting fox. The price was good, and ray had trouble finding the barrel he had advertised, we compromised on the barrel and he upgraded my wood.
He als dovetailed the barrel and breached it. The breaching was perfect but the top dovetail was too big for the sight. The stock had a lock mortise cut in it, a feature I didn’t order, I think he felt it was part of the upgrade. It was slightly too big for the lock.
Ray was quick on the emails and bent over backwards to provide good service and be fair.
He should update his prices on his kits because the prices are stated less then the product you buy.
I would do business with him again, and recommend him, his parts are well matched and you can get an accurate kit from him ... but let the buyer beware, he is happy to set you up with a fantasy piece also.
He also provides unusual kits that you may have a hard time finding, such as Dutch style trade guns, or Hudson valley fowling pieces, early HBC trade guns that had the more French styling. And unusual woods such as locust and ash.
 
Back
Top