Fowler for grouse?

[Roy]

I swung around a 50" barreled gun in the woods... does that help :haha: Grouse season is not until next month.... :grin:

 

[Mike Brooks]

Weight of a fowler with a 48" bbl.?

I recently built one with a 48" barrel that weighed 6 lbs 4 oz. The 7 lb range is more common.

 

[Roy]

who's barrel? specs info please! :haha: :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

Mine woulda weighed less than that but it's got a pound of wire in it. :rotf:

 

[Roy]

that was for all them lights... :haha: :shocked2:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Roy, I don't know what gauge Mike's fowler is, but the gentleman building mine told me that it will come in well under 8 pounds and I have great faith in him. It is a 10 bore with a 48" barrel and a strong breech. The barrel maker is Ed Rayl. Hope this is helpful to you.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I'll be looking at the longer barrels shortly.

:rotf: :rotf:

Whether intended or not, that was great Pete!

 

[Roy]

7 to 8 pounds is very normal for fowlers :v

 

[Darkgael]

HA! Nope, unintended.

Pete

 

[Mike Brooks]

who's barrel? specs info please! :haha: :thumbsup:

John Getz made it. 20 bore 1" breech and thin at the muzzle. Bob Hoyt makes them for me now. Give him a call and tell him you want one. I use the barrel on my Carolina gun. Go to my website and have a look. :thumbsup:

 

[Roy]

:hmm: I do want one :grin: Thanks!

 

[Darkgael]

Mike: If you have a moment, what is the overall length of a gun with a 48" bbl. and a LOP of 15"?
Pete

 

[Roy]

be right around 65"

 

[Darkgael]

Thank you.
Pete

 

[Stumpkiller]

I was NEVER able to get my 42", 9# Bess onto a grouse. I do much better with my 28", 7# New Englander. Which is to say one kill in five shots, and one shot in five flushes. Both straight cylinder bore. The long Bess was just too slow to cock and bring into point. I don't hunt grouse with a dog and they hold in the thickets I hunt or flush early in the glens. If you haven't pulled the trigger in two seconds it's too late.

By way of comparison, I hit about 50% with my 26", 6-1/4# Ithaca/SKB 20 ga with the IC/Mod barrels on; and the same 1 in 5 shots for flushes.

Depends a lot on the cover you hunt, but hereabouts the fit of the gun to you is every bit as important as the length of the barrels . . . but the weight (inertia) can be a huge consideration, too.

 

[Darkgael]

Well.....as a follow-up to earlier posts and all the info/advice that was forthcoming, I cobbled together a "practice" gun of the same length and weight as some of the fowlers that I have looked at - used an old sporter rifle stock, a long piece of PVC pipe, some lead ingots from the casting crate and duct tape. Played a bit to get it to balance just at the front of the forend. Started off with weight at 5.5lbs and worked up to eight. I'm not mearly as concerned about the length now. It handled nicely for what it was/is.
So...TVM had an affordable fowler (.62) in stock and it's on its way to me - 42" bbl.
We'll see. Grouse season opens Oct.13.
Pete

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Don't think I've ever heard of anyone going to such lengths in buying a fowler! I'm sure it will be worth it, though. I don't think that you will be disappointed. Welcome to the Brotherhood of the Long Tom and its may benefits. :thumbsup:

 

[Darkgael]

Thought that I'd check back about the progress of grouse hunting up here in "the Endless Mountains" of Sullivan Co., PA.
The bottom line is that the beautiful fowler that I bought from the Vances at TVM is really hard to use in a lot of the cover that I hunt. Comes up fine, points beautifully but I run out of room. It's difficult even with 28" bbls. My Navy Arms SXS is OK but the fowler is just too long to maneuver, at least in this cover. This is what I expected. The picture doesn't really tell the tale; the brush, most of it six to eight feet tall, is thicker than the pic shows. It may look like there is a way in that is person sized; trust me, there isn't and the huckleberry thickets are even tighter (lost a shot at a bird on Sat. because it took me so long to get to the dog that the bird left/flushed. Game trails are three feet high.). The dog, however, is in there and has no problem moving through.
All is not lost, however, I did hunt through some barberries yesterday that would have allowed shooting with the fowler. Unfortunately, I had another gun.
As far as the SXS is concerned, I'm thinking that the second barrel is superfluous, as there is rarely a second shot at all in this cover and definitely not when one has to take the time to cock that second hammer. (Maybe I need a fowler with a 28" bbl?? Hmmmm.)
Nothing here, though, that I did not expect. Happy to be hunting with fine firearms.
Pete

 

[Roy]

looks birdie.... nice pic :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

Maybe a 'buss with a 20" barrel?