Kibler fowler - Has anyone shot round ball?

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Mike in FL said:
I wonder if a rear sight might be added? I think I couldn't want one without some sort of rear sight. I haven't look close at the kit, not enough to know if it is even viable.
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That is one thing neat about a smoothbore. No rear sight to have to line up with the front especially with 69-year-old eyes. Just point the gun and put the front sight on the intended target. Your consistently placed cheek weld and eye is the rear sight.

I have seen someone here make a fowler rear sight out of one of those super (Neodymium) magnet that clamped over the top flat and down the angled flat a bit. It was neat and hard to knock off kilter.

Bob
 
I tested mine out yesterday. This was my target from 50 yards. All the tiny holes from shot was at about 25 yards.
 

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You sound confident in bending the barrel. Have you done that before? I'd be freaked out by that. Can you look down the barrel and see the bend? And how do you know how much to bend it? It seems to me it would no longer fit the barrel channel. My ignorance is because I've never owned or fired a fowler.
 
Mike in FL said:
You sound confident in bending the barrel. Have you done that before? I'd be freaked out by that. Can you look down the barrel and see the bend? And how do you know how much to bend it? It seems to me it would no longer fit the barrel channel. My ignorance is because I've never owned or fired a fowler.
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Kibler wood is thin enough around the barrel it will flex to fit the barrel and besides, you are not moving it a quarter inch. I would guess .010 or less
 
I’ve done this multiple times. Some just put in the crotch of a tree and tug. I don’t do it that way.
A V block on both ends of the barrel. Mark the centerline crossways. Then, using a straight edge, fit the largest drill bit that will just slide through.
Using a large C clamp on a sturdy bench, squeeze that sucker down, remove the clamp, and re measure. I only bend until the next larger bit will fit through. That’s only about .015”.
I may have to do it once more, but I’ll shoot it first.
On a 44” barrel, moving the center .015”, moves the muzzle/breach a bunch.
 
Barrel bending is easily done and works great to adjust the POI to match the POA of a smoothbore.

Discussed many times on this site if you do a search. I have done it similar to Flintandsteel's method.
 
I have a friend who bent the barrel on his smoothbore many years ago in his shop. If I remember correctly, he said he really had too pull it a great deal to one side to get a small bend because it sprang back. I've never tried it. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? We've all heard of the inaccuracies of the smoothbore muskets. I wonder if that could be part of the reason in the old wars a soldier at 100 yards would hit a guy 6 soldiers away from the one straight across from him.
 
Flint1 said:
I have a friend who bent the barrel on his smoothbore many years ago in his shop. If I remember correctly, he said he really had too pull it a great deal to one side to get a small bend because it sprang back. I've never tried it. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? We've all heard of the inaccuracies of the smoothbore muskets. I wonder if that could be part of the reason in the old wars a soldier at 100 yards would hit a guy 6 soldiers away from the one straight across from him.
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The barrel will spring back and that is why I prefer the block it on both ends and use a hydraulic press in the middle method. You also need a way of measuring after each try without removing the barrel from the setup.

After a push with the press it will spring back, measure, if it did not move, press a little further this time, measure, if it did not move, press a little further until you can measure some movement when at rest.

Believe it or not after doing this a few times you can actually feel when the barrel "gives" and has bent enough to stay bent.

The old bang it against a tree method has no provision for measuring whether you moved it at all or too much.
 
The barrel will spring back, hence the reason for the straight edge and drill bits. Wish I had a hydraulic press. Gets kinda tedious cranking on that big C clamp.
 
I have a friend who has a smoothbore that was MEANT for shooting round balls. It is not a fowler. He practices and has done remarkably well with his gun. The main point here is that 1) the gun is shot with what it was meant to shoot and 2) he practices.
Mr. Kibler (and I respectfully say this though he is much younger than I) knows his product. If he says use shot, he means, use shot. If he says one caliber over the over if you must use round ball, he knows what he is talking about. Second guessing the man who makes what you will shoot is on your own risk. Mine on order, will be my first smoothie other than made with berries and ice. It may be shot with round ball, but it will also not be the 16 gauge. I listened to the man and ordered a .20.

I find it best to know your equipment and not to, as Jim says, try to turn it into a centerfire.

The Doc is out now. 😎

PS. you are getting free advice from a lawyer for 40 years.
 
DrLaw said:
I have a friend who has a smoothbore that was MEANT for shooting round balls. It is not a fowler. He practices and has done remarkably well with his gun. The main point here is that 1) the gun is shot with what it was meant to shoot and 2) he practices.
Mr. Kibler (and I respectfully say this though he is much younger than I) knows his product. If he says use shot, he means, use shot. If he says one caliber over the over if you must use round ball, he knows what he is talking about. Second guessing the man who makes what you will shoot is on your own risk. Mine on order, will be my first smoothie other than made with berries and ice. It may be shot with round ball, but it will also not be the 16 gauge. I listened to the man and ordered a .20.

I find it best to know your equipment and not to, as Jim says, try to turn it into a centerfire.

The Doc is out now. 😎

PS. you are getting free advice from a lawyer for 40 years.
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Spoken like a real honest to goodness lawyer 🤣
 
sportster73hp said:
As i am sure you realize, this fowler only has a front sight. Your posture and sight picture will vary. Some may have better results than others.
I shot a new to me 16 gauge at 100 yards hitting a hanging steel target , reloaded two more times , second shooter hit but third missed. Three people two hits .
I wouldn’t recommend shooting deer at this distance without lots of practice.
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You forgot the critical information about the size of the steel target.
Was it 4, 6, 12, or 16 inches? Big difference.
 
And furthermore, I do not think the danger of overloading a smoothbore (turning into a centerfire) is mitigated by restricting it to shot charges only.
The same kind of yahoo that would put 100 grains of 3F behind a roundball is the same kind of yahoo that would put 100 grains of 3F behind a shot charge and probably increase the shot charge to boot.

I have a Caywood French smoothbore and honestly, I never asked Danny if shooting roundball was OK or not, history is replete with our ancestors shooting both out of smoothbores from the start of time and most likely with barrel steel of much lesser quality.
Weigh your round ball and weigh your shot charge and get back to me with which one weighs the most.
 

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