flintlock folwer

[dukewellington]

What would be betetr for smashing clays and bird hunting, a brown bess or a fowler?

Duke :thumbsup:

 

[Roy]

A fowler. A Bess will work, but the first models, although easier to point than the 2nd, are to me too heavy. The second model bess was meant for volley fire and not for aiming, and have less drop in the stock than the 1st.

 

[rich pierce]

That is why they are called fowlers. :grin: They are designed to be good for fowl.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The Bess was a military musket. It was intended to shoot a single projectile, not take birds or any other flying target. It is heavy, and bulky, with fairly straight stock dimensions which help in handling the recoil of the large caliber( .69-.77) balls it fired.

The Fowler was made( and is made) to be used for bird ( fowl) shooting, NOT single ball shooting. It is lighter in weight, typically, and balanced so that the gun can be easily swung to catch and swing through, a flying target. Single Projectile shooting with fowlers can be done, but not all fowlers shoot a PRB well.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

As everyone has said, a fowler is best. In many ways the early fowlers are the most elegant guns ever made. And the English style fowler is among the finest. With a long slender profile, superb balance and elegance from every angle, they are wonderful guns for birds and small game and oft times will fire patched ball to good effect.

I have a twenty bore that does everything well and a ten bore on the way. If I wanted a fowler for your planned uses and could have only one, I think that I would go no smaller than a sixteen gauge and at least a 44" barrel. The longer barrels seem to give a choke effect that is useful. I hope this is helpful to you. :v

 

[robertdale]

just wondering what kind of comparison you made between the various barrel lengths to come up with the 44" as giving a "choke" effect. I once had a 28" 20 ga. that broke clays out to 40 yards like they were hangen in the air. stupidly sold it.It was a northstar gun. :v

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

A 42" to 44" barrel, provided it is a true fowler barrel and not one of those compromise, thicker walled barrels designed to also shoot balls more often than shot, just gives a fowler a fine balance. The longer barrels apparently hold the shot to a tighter pattern--at least that's been my experience. Doesn't mean that some short barreled guns won't give good patterns, especially if jug choked. Consistently breaking clays at 40 yards with a 20 bore isn't an everyday event with any gun.

 

[Mike Brooks]

The longer barrels apparently hold the shot to a tighter pattern--at least that's been my experience.

Ditto

 

[dukewellington]

Any picutres on here of fowlers?

 

[Mike Brooks]

Any picutres on here of fowlers?

Here are some I've built in the past couple of years.
FOWLERS
Click on the pics for a more detailed view.

 

[dukewellington]

Real nice Guns mike :thumbsup:

 

[PreglerD]

Are there also poorboy fowlers available and how is the pricing?

Kirrmeister

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Are there also poorboy fowlers available and how is the pricing?

Kirrmeister

A Carolina gun is a real "poor boy" fowler of the day. Mike Brooks offers them in kit form and has a tutorial on their construction. He also has one in his past sales section that had the Track of the Wolf trade gun barrel and black walnut stock that sold for a very reasonable price completed.

 

[dukewellington]

What does the term 'poor boy' mean. I like the rugegd style of poor boys.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Nobody gets permission from Webster's to make up terms for rifles. A Poor Boy Rifle generally lacks any frills, like Brass furniture. Most do not have a buttplate made of metal. Some had leather buttplates, and others none at all. No patch box, but some had a hole drilled into the stock to hold grease. Furniture was usually iron. No carving, inlays, etc.

These were working guns, for mountain folk, who just could not afford to pay for all those extras. They were made right on up into the 20th century, and represented their own distinct style after a number of years. I have never been clear when the term " Poor Boy " was attached to these guns. When I was young I heard them called all kinds of names. When I was looking for a rifle in the late 70s, a firm was offering a " Poor Boy " rifle, and shortly after that, Dixie Gun Works began marketing a similar looking rifle they had made for the company in Japan. The advertising made the name stick.

The most common design distinctions for Poor Boy rifles is the hole in the stock for grease, and then the shape of the Trigger guard, which is usually rectangular rather than oval in shape, again, made or iron or steel. But, not all original Poor Boy rifles had trigger guards of this shape.

I specifically requested that a hole NOT Be drilled in my gunstock for grease, and have since seen several originals or pictures of originals that lack the grease hole, and of course, many replicas that are lacking the grease hole.

And, you see builders using that style of trigger guard on other kinds of rifles, that have brass pipes, trigger guard, buttplate, toeplate, sideplate, etc. I have not yet see this style of trigger guard cast in brass, however. Someone probably has done it, but I haven't seen one yet.

I suspect that the POOR BOY name is something of modern invention, but I can't find any source of information on the origin of the name. The most common name I remember hearing being used 40 years ago to describe these guns, was just " Southern " Mountain rifle.

"Southern Mountain Rifle" was used to distinquish these guns from the more traditional Southern rifles, made in Virginia and the Carolinas, that had both wood and metal patch boxes, and brass or german silver furniture. Sometimes, you see German style lockplates used on the Poor Boy rifles, where most Southern rifles were made with English Style locks.

I hope that helps answer your question.

 

[dukewellington]

What did they use before rifled barrels were invented. They must have used smooth-longrifles or something along those lines.
They used longrifle type things in the War of independence, but surley they did not have rifled barrels.

:thumbsup:

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

:shocked2: My, my.... Why would you say that? They most certainly did have rifled barrels. The rifling of barrels precedes the American War of Independence by a couple hundred years.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Thats how they wooped our @$$! We (Britain) could not engage unless the enemy was 100yds and in formation. They were sniping at us at 200yds like they was at a turkey shoot with them there evil rifles!

A lot of folk preferred the smooth bore because it could do more, if they found a pond full of ducks good eating was to be had and then whilst scouting, a deer was seen regular, then it was time to dig the balls out :thumbsup:

Britsmoothy.

 

[PreglerD]

Hi Duke,

when the Rev. War took place the rifling was already several hundred years old. The first who rifled their barrels were the germans or swiss. There the "Schuetzengilden" in all bigger cities had a high developed target practice and therefore they invented the rifling. Was at the end of the 15th century.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[Leonredbeard]

Kirrmeister,
Were there any matchlock rifles?
volatpluvia