fowler vs smooth rifle

[Birdwatcher]

Rifle has REAR SIGHT, Fowler has NO REAR SIGHT!

Unless they do Some fowlers do have a rear sight.

Best thing is to not get too hung up on the terminology. Most smooth rifles clearly look like rifles, as in them not being rifled comes as a surprise.

Fowlers. especially original fowlers, tend to look like fowlers, even if they have a simple rear sight.

OTOH some guns, especially modern repros can be confusing.

Here's my nine pound "fowler" smoothie from TVM....

I swear I saw one near as I could tell virtually identical on the TOTW website (half-octagon non-tapered barrel) some time back, with a rear sight, being advertised as a ".62 cal smooth rifle".

Anyhow, I added a rear sight for practical reasons some time back (so others could hit with it too) and now, for Texas reenactment purposes its a "generic smooth rifle made from the recycled parts of other guns".

From what I understand the biggest practical difference between a rifle and a smoothie is that a smoothbore tends to be more finicky about which ball loads it will shoot well, and a smoothie is more likely to throw out an occasional flyer even with a load it likes.

Here's an example, standing offhand at fifty yards, five shot group, one shot went wide, dunno if it was the gun or me...

Ain't tried it on paper past fifty, but as stated here accuracy is said to drop off a lot out of a smoothbore at longer ranges.

Birdwatcher

 

[hanshi]

Nice little "brush pig" you got there. Nine lbs for a TVM fowler!? How did come to be so weighty? Mine looks identical to yours but weighs more like 7.5 lbs. Your group looks very good to me and I'd be quite happy with the accuracy you're getting. I got mine for deer and turkey/squirrels and it performs well for its intended purpose. A friend has one a bit longer than mine that weighs some less so I think of mine as "robust". Your shooting/groups are nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Birdwatcher]

Yep, weighed it on a scale.

Recall my barrel ain't tapered at all, anywhere, dunno that accounts for a whole pound and a half though. Recall too that the barrel, at the breech anyway, is inlet high, perhaps more wood under there too...

Anyhoo... it is what it is.... lemons and lemonade and all that.

Those groups are with a 0.600 ball, 0.010 prelubed Ox-Yoke patch, 80 grains FFg.

I was able to hit that little javelina exactly right at 35-40 yards. Broke both shoulders, heart and lungs in fragments in the chest cavity, pretty much a bang-flop.

Point of interest; I have a .50 cal 42" flintlock rifle on its way, be interesting to see if I can shoot that any better.

Birdwatcher

 

[Heelerau]

Johnno,
the British Lancaster generally the Engineers Carbine, which looks very much like a Pat 58 Navy rifle is oval bored, and the oval bore has a twist in it, probably 1 in 33, for example, It uses either an Enfield Paper cartridge using the Pritchett bullet, or a naked minnie, (Roberts Bullet) the late Trevor Bugg in Adelaide made these, a lovely slip fit, and shoot really well. Lancaster also made in the 1890's a lovely bolt action repeater in 6.5 using a Mauser action.

Cheers

Gordon

Ps I have a lovely Penslyvanian Lancaster County Longrifle, made by Niel Fields of Vernal Utah, that is not oval bored !!