advice on smoothbore kit?

[chuck-ia]

Getting pretty close to ordering a kit or parts for a 20 smoothbore, I have a north star west trade gun with a 30 inch barrel in 20 guage, I now want a smoothbore with a 42" or 46" barrel, with a chambers flintlock. I am pretty much down to a Jim Chambers Penns. smoothbore or a Tip Curtis American fowler, not looking for a fancy gun, I am gonna use this gun to hunt everything from a squirrel to deer here in Iowa. Any advice between the 2 guns? flinch

 

[ffffg]

jim chambers has a pennsylvania foweler in 20 ga, that weighs in at 6 3/4 pounds, it sounds like a winner to me.. i would opt for the virgina lock as it sports.. it is a real workhorse, and in my mind infallable.. i did not care for the golden age lock.. i have two chambers guns both mark silvers. they are 16 gauge shotgun 8 1/2 pounds and .62 rifle, 9 lbs.. in upgrade walnut.. i like the extra weight for the loads i shoot. you wont need that much weight so the penn fouler with that lock will be very fine.. if you like sneaking around and hiding while hunting i would personally opt for the steel hardware. my opinion only. i dont know how much troulble/work the steel hardware will give you during assembly. brass may be easier to work with.. .. dave...

 

[Robin]

Flinch all I can tell you about is the Chambers Penn. Fowler. It is the 1st gun that I have built and the 1st flinter that I have owned I have not used it on small game yet but I made meat at last years deer season with it 40 yrds. staight through the heart. love this gun . I have the .62 cal long hammock barrel.I have seen Tip Curtis and his guns at Kalamazoo and I would not hesitate to buy one of his either.both would do you well, good luck :thumbsup:
Robin

 

[Ridge]

I have the Chambers PA fower as well.

I love it, great shooter. Balance is excellent. I've taken lots of rabbits with mine. That's about all I've hunted with it so far though.

 

[chuck-ia]

So, how does that big lock work on the Penns. fowler? How many shots can you get from a flint? I have 2 guns with large siler locks and I really like those locks, I can get 60 shots from 1 flint. My trade gun, if I am lucky maybe 20 shots, (not a siler,)not as fast as the siler either. I just think it would be great to get 60 shot from 1 flint on a fowler. thanks, flinch

 

[ffffg]

there are two locks that are interchangeable for this size or fitting in the chambers guns.. i have one of each, the virginia has a huge pan and the same frizen and jaw size as the round faced lock. the round faced lock has a water proof pan with a riased lip that reduces the amount of 4f that the pan will hold. the top of the jaw is also recessed to fit over the raised pan to complete the water proof lock .. . both of these locks will get 30-50 rounds in the lock , then you can knapp and keep going. ive gotten up to three knapps on my virginia... if your flint is the right shape.. ive gone to fatter (deeper or thicker) flints becouse they seem to work longer.. each lock and each flint is different.. but both these locks throw lots of sparkes.. it takes 9 to 10 pounds of pull to cock these locks and they are made more for throwing huge sprays of sparks in cold or damp weather than for flint life.. but i think you will find them to be timed well and will get a good life and adequate sparke for the average user... the riased lip on the pan makes me set the rock back further toward the jaw on the round faced lock, and this may be harder on the flints..i have found that the round faced fires better with the bevel down and this has a self sharping(knapping feature for some reason, and i like this).. it isnt broken in yet so i cant judge it.. ive hunted ducks for 15 pluss years with the virginia and dont ever remember a slow ignition or misfire when starting the day with a new flint.. each lock is different, and Jim
Chambers will guarentee your lock from problems or defects, better than most guarentees ive run into in my 56 years... i would start off by ordering a lock from jim, id get the round face, tell them its a down payment on your foweler.. when youve got a lock you like, buy the gun..... i was extreeeemly picky but polite, and jims daughter treated me very well.. its all about the lock, stock and barrel.. the other parts are easily come by, without much trouble to exchange.. i did have to special order a rear sight from track of the wolf, becouse of the more radical bullet drop of the special order caliber that i purchased.. dave

 

[chuck-ia]

Thanks for all the advice Dave. flinch

 

[big bore 75]

flitch, I relize you have settled on two guns but have you checked with Tennesse valley manufacturing? they are making a poor boy fowler in kit form shipped for 410.00, assebled for 595.00, or completed for 695.00, I just completed a virginia rifle from them and its a straight shooter and have completed a tennessee long rifle years ago they are nice, check them out to the caliber in their kit is 20 ga. but offer up to 12 ga. bb75

 

[chuck-ia]

Thanks, I will have to give them a call, I did not see that gun on their website. flinch

 

[big bore 75]

You won't see the gun on the website, the site is old and Jack said he needs to up date the site , but when you call ask to send you a catalog, this will give you an idea what he handles and his prices, don't ask me why I don't need another one but I want to get that poor boy fowler in 12 ga.
I have a tulle in 24ga. and a single shot cap in 12a. and about to have a old t/c barrel reemed out to 56 and turn it int a smmoth bore should be hell on squirrels. bb75

 

[Rebel]

Is it actually available in .72cal./.12 ga. or is it .75cal./11ga.?

 

[chuck-ia]

I called today and the price went up to around 600.00 delivered, still considering it though. thanks flinch

 

[big bore 75]

Have you checked on building it yourself for a small price he will inlet the lock and trigger, and install the price . bb75

 

[chuck-ia]

That is the kit price. I don't think this is the poor boy though, as he mentioned a butt plate. What do you guys consider the term building a gun? I have put together a few guns, parts or kits from track, pecatonica and north star west. The barrel channels were cut and lock area partially cut, partial cut out for trigger. I, myself hesitate consider this building a gun, don't know. I have a friend who buys a stock blank, just a big plank of wood. Cuts the barrel channel in by hand, (swamped barrels) inlets the lock, the whole 9 yards. I am afraid if I tried this I would end up with an expensive piece of fire wood. I do consider this more, building a gun though. Whats your thoughts on this? flinch

 

[ffffg]

building from scratch gets you away from the kits, you can put anything anywhere you want.. you get away from some kits minor problems if your good.. if your not good youll end up with more problems than a kit will give.. i want a quality gun that i can verify all stages of the gun building and a pre cut kit did the job for me.. depends on your experience, your skill, and the time you want to spend.. to start with a blank youll need a few more tools to get started.. the biggest problem i think blank carvers have is getting the style (shape) right in a three dimentional object from looking at a picture.. dave....

 

[chuck-ia]

Dave, I agree. Maybe someday I will tackle a blank, for now I think I will stick with the precarves. It takes me enough time for a precarved stock, heck, I spent about 20 hours on the buttplate alone. There was a post about how long it takes to install a buttplate a while back, some guys can do it in under an hour, some 6 hours. Back to the smoothbore, I am probably gonna go with the chambers fowler, maybe buy the stock and barrel first, and do some thinking on which lock. I probably won't be able to do a lot of work on the gun till I get a lock though, maybe get the barrel to set in the stock is all. flinch

 

[big bore 75]

To give you an example My next thing is a half stock rifle, a rigby english sporter have seen a few socks out there precarved everything done ,barrel channel cut trigger cut and lock cut out .This rifle will be my first under taking at a stock blank, I have built enough guns to take on the next challenge, mostly all it takes is time and paitance and the plunge, when you took 6 hours doing a butt plate that means you take attention to detail,I'd say take the challenge, Jim Chambers stuff is awesome I just enjoy doing things myself and relaxes me after all week doing a stressfull job,and besides it is a hell of a lot cheaper as much as $200.00 or more to some that is a bunch of money. bb75

 

[chuck-ia]

big bore 75, my mistake, I had called tennessee valley muzzleloading instead of tennessee valley manufacturing. I just talked to tennessee valley manufacturing, and there basic fowler kit is 330.00, I don't know if that is delivered. flinch