I think you are expecting too much of a 20 gauge flintlock if you intend to hunt Geese with it, unless you have some barrow pits, or farm ponds, where you can sneak up close to the geese and shoot them as they rise up off the water at dawn. A larger bore gun would be a better choice, just to be able to deliver a pattern with more shot in a shorter length of space.
You ask a question that makes me want to know more information. Are you hunting Canada Geese, or the smaller species? Are you hunting ruffed grouse, or the larger wood grouse? Where you hunt can help answer the barrel length question, too.
I think you would like a 36" 20 ga. flintlock for upland game up to and including those larger birds. The shots will be at 30 yards and less, and that happens to be about as far as a cylinder bore smoothbore can effectively put a pattern on a flying bird.
But, if the primary use is to hunt Canada Geese, I would recommend increase the bore to at least 16, and 12 would be better. Then, the 42" barrel would also be a hands down choice, too. Shots on Canada geese can be inside 25 yards, for sure, but many are out at 35 and 40 yards, and sometimes further. You probably will have to pass on the over 40 yard shots, simply because you can not use lead shot in your gun to hunt Migratory Waterfowl, in N. America. The steel shot now available, and the Bismuth shot some people can still find, are so much lighter in weight that you just don't have the pellet energy at that 40 yard distance, or beyond to insure a kill.
All of us are anticipating working with Hevishot, Nice shot, and Ecotungsten shot, and other non-toxic shot that is promised to be as heavy as lead, and soft enough to be used in the soft steel barrels from which most ML shotguns and fowlers are made. These products have to be made available to reloaders, ( as components for sale) and the price needs to come down before most of us can justify the cost to try them, and then use them to return to hunting Waterfowl with our Smoothbores. BP smoothbores do not occupy a large part of the thinking of these companies, when it comes to sales.
We disappeared when steel shot was required, almost 30 years ago, and manufacturers just don't understand how many people are out there who would like to use their flintlocks and percussion MLers to hunt migratory birds. Most of us have hunted in these past 30 years using modern guns shooting steel shot, so we have also " disappeared" as a distinct marketing niche.
These companies cannot afford to hire survey companies to do market research to find out what kind of interest there may be in their products. Websites like this are their best source of information. Surveys done occasionally by organizations like the NRA, or NMLRA, often supply many manufacturers with a sense of what products the marketplace wants. But, that is about it.
If the companies provide their shot as a reloading component, it will be used by both cartridge reloaders, and by MLers. But, some of these non-toxic shot have been talked about for several years, and only this past year have any of the cartridges actually appeared on shelves for some of the products. Paying $2-$3 per shotgun shell so that you can steel the shot from them to use in a ML makes for very expensive shooting. A few can afford to do that; most hunters can't. Add the limited bag limits for Canada Geese, and most shooters are staying home.
The good news is that the huge daily bag limites for the lesser species of geese and the long, late winter seasons, when nothing else can be hunted save varmints, opens a possibility for lots of shooting, limited competition for blinds at the goose clubs, which will help MLers get the birds in closer for those short range shots. Stay tuned. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
