Our forum brother,
@bornintheussr , started a thread about a really cool pistol he had acquired, and we were able to confirm that it had been made by Jackie Brown, a muzzleloading gunmaker in northern Mississippi. Check it out here:
my new pistol
Over the course of that discussion, I mentioned owning a Jackie Brown fowler that had some features similar to those on the pistol. I was asked to post some photos of my smoothbore, and rather than hijack the other thread, I thought I would just start a new one.
Mr. Brown called this a "Carolina Smoothbore," but in our correspondence he simply referred to it as a "fowler." Note that some of the early English trade muskets were called "Carolina guns." This one is not a copy or replica of those, nor did Jackie try to represent it as such. The similarity in names is coincidental. Anyway, I ordered this one from Jackie in late 2009 and received it in early 2010. Jackie has built a lot of muzzleloaders, and I think this was more or less a standard model or design for him, although he was happy to accommodate reasonable requests for custom features, such as the type of wood, length of pull, or type of lock. I requested a walnut stock stained dark, an antique finish on the metal, a 13-1/4" LOP, and an L&R Queen Anne lock. The bore is 20 gauge, and I believe it has a Colerain barrel.
Here is a full-length view of the lock side:
View attachment 299454
...and the off side:
View attachment 299456
I apologize for the fuzzy photos. This gun has a 42" barrel, and it was hard to get the whole thing in the picture!
You can't really see it in the photo, but the tapered ramrod is a replacement that I made. The original rod was a simple 3/8" stained hickory stick with a threaded ferrule on one end. I keep it as a backup, but prefer a tapered rod for looks as well as function.
Here we have a close-up of the Queen Anne lock as well as the trigger and guard:
View attachment 299457
This lock had some issues when first received, but I do not consider that Jackie's fault. It was a mediocre to poor sparker and it would eat flints. I understand these are very common problems with L&R flint locks. I sent it to "the Lock Doctor," Brad Emig of Cabin Creek Muzzleloading for remediation. Brad tuned it up and it's as good as any now... very quick and reliable, and easy on flints. I would like to add that this gun does not have a vent liner, nor does it need one. Vent liners are vastly over-rated in my opinion. They can be an advantage for rifles with swamped barrels with heavy, thick sidewalls at the breech, but for a smoothbore like this one, a liner would be more of a liability than an asset.
Moving on, if you look at the pistol photos posted by
@bornintheussr in the thread referenced above, you'll see a lot of similarities between that handgun and my fowler. The traditional "Tennessee" sideplate is one of them, also the swept-back trigger with the pigtail curl:
View attachment 299463
Another is the triggerguard itself. In looking at the pistol photos, it seemed to me that the triggerguard bow was quite large, and the guard on my fowler has exactly the same "acorn" finial up front:
View attachment 299464
I'm thinking Mr. Brown may have modified a guard for a fowling piece to fit the pistol. I'll have to say, I like that larger bow on the pistol guard. It looks good to my eye, and I would consider it a very practical adaptation.
For the front sight, Jackie likes the old turtle:
View attachment 299465
We had a little discussion of these "turtle" front sights in a recent trade gun thread. Popular as they are, I don't think think they are authentic or "correct" for any period of distant history. However, muzzleloading gunsmiths are artisans as well as craftsmen, and we as customers need to accept some of the distinctive features these artisan/craftsmen design into the guns they make. With that in mind, Jackie likes the turtle, so that's what I got. Here is the gunmaker's signature:
View attachment 299466
Jackie told me that guns signed "J. Brown" were completed by him, while those guns marked just "Brown" were sold in the white, to be finished by the customer. Mr. Brown sent this one to me as a finished gun.
I have corresponded a little with Jackie recently. He told me he is still building a few guns, but he is not taking orders any more. Time takes its toll on all of us. I will say it was fun planning this fowler with him, and he was great to deal with. I have bought and then sold a few guns, but this one from Jackie Brown is a keeper.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
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