Is longer better

[Mike Brooks]

Put the Butt of the gun on the ground and walk away from it till the muzzle is at a convenient height to load...pretty simple.
I have sold 1/2 dozen or more guns with 60" barrels. None of the guys who own them are 8' tall.

 

[stone knife]

Just have to have the right angle to the dangle to get it loaded :grin:

 

[tg]

One does not have to keep the gun vertical to load, it can be done while lying down. This just takes maybe a bit more time and a technique that works for the individual. Often we get trapped into only one way of doing someting and any change is hard to contemplate untill it is attempted mastered.

 

[hanshi]

I have to do the "walk away" thing with 42" bbls. :redface:

 

[paulvallandigham]

With any flintlock, , you don't want to compact the powder for best accuracy. So, tilting the barrel to the side- as you must do to load the long barreled guns---- is advantageous, in that it allows the powder to SLIDE down the side of the bore to the breech, rather than DROP down as would happen when the barrel is held vertically.

Any barrel held vertically becomes a DROP TUBE no different than what BP cartridge shooters use in compacting 3Fg powder in their straight wall brass casings. Powder dropped down a barrel will Compact.

Done in a barrel with percussion ignition, you get good, consistent velocities, as the cap blows a flame right through the center of the compacted powder charge. But, in flintlocks, the sparks have to create heat that ignites powder granules from the back to the front, like a fuse, and compacting the powder has been shown to delay ignition of the full powder charge.

As to body height, or length of arms, they have some influence on how long a gun you will handle well, but balance and total weight of a gun and its barrel are much more important to how a gun "feels" to the shooter. Balance is how the gun feels when its held naturally in both hands, with the hands located on the stock in their normal shooting position: One hand on the wrist of the stock close enough for the index finger to be in contact with the trigger; the second hand on the forestock. Guns intended to be swung at moving targets- rabbits and flying birds-- then to have the balance in the middle, or just forward of the middle to give some steadiness to the front sight. Guns intended to be aimed- turkey and deer guns, or guns used to shoot sitting birds-- tend to use longer barrels with the balance closer to the forward hand, or beyond it. Moving the balance point forward steadies the front sight for an aimed shot.

Guns are tools, after all. If they don't work for you, you will find yourself picking up another tool to do the work. :hmm: :thumbsup:

I have known short statured men who own seriously long barreled guns, and are very happy with them. But, they use either a walking stick, or a handy tree for a rest for the barrel when they take an aimed shot, and have no intention of taking shots at moving targets. :hatsoff:

 

[robinghewitt]

I've got 2 twenty gauge guns, one with a 38" barrel and one with a 72" barrel. The 72" barrel is more than a little hard to handle in the field but holds a good pattern but the 38" works real well.

I've got a 16 gauge with a 72" barrel, saw it, had to have it. I don't usually confess to owning it any more because it is borderline insane. I get strange looks when I take it out. Good to know I am not the only one.

Don't know how it shoots because someone converted it to percussion and the spring isn't strong enough to light a cap.

It's on my one-day list.

 

[roundball]

With my 42" barrels I take one step off to the side because the roof of the shelter I shoot under is not tall enough for the long range rod to go straight up...LOL.
I intentionally compress the powder charges in my Flintlocks by leaning on the range rod ball handle with both hands to compress it as hard as I can, consistently the same way every time.
Different rifles, smoothbores, calibers, gauges, barrel lengths, etc...never had any accuracy problems from compressing my powder charges.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Shooting moving game is all about balance- not length--so you can swing smoothly on the game.

Yes I think this is especially true with fowl, or at least geese. I remember as a kid before they marketed screw-in chokes, if you wanted a full choked goose barrel, you were talking 32" on a modern shotgun (perhaps 34" on a custom trap gun ??). True that's 10" less than on many fowlers, but remember too that the modern shotguns have a tubular magazine below the barrel that adds weight out front. The old guys said the longer barrel was to improve "swing" in the shotgun.

That may have been the idea back in the BP days as well. Other than choking, I don't think there were any significant improvements to patterns (and thus success at downing birds) until modern shot cups arrived in the second half of the 20th century.

LD

 

[Keb]

I seem to have more with 36" barrels for some strange reason I can't explain. I don't know why. They just seem to magically multiply in my safe.

I shoot a .65 cal with a 48" mostly but have at least 5 with short barrels (2 - NW trade guns w/36"). :/

 

[troutabout]

The big reason for long barrels 'of yore' was that the powder was inferior and loading large charges meant that it took a longer barrel for the powder to properly burn. Reaching ducks and geese with a decent shot load meant larger charges of powder. Today's shotguns perform on fast burning powder and shorter barrels.

 

[tg]

"The big reason for long barrels 'of yore' was that the powder was inferior and loading large charges meant that it took a longer barrel for the powder to properly burn"

I believe that when all the possibilitis are closely examined the simple lack of a complete and accurate understanding of ballistics was the main reason for the longer barrels. This followed the range of guns from naval cannon to shoulder guns. As time and knowledge advanced understanding of things got better. Many long barrels were sufficient to properly burn the amount of powder used. Later with the use of modern powder the "long barrel is best" faded into history except for the better sight plane and a few verifiable minor advantages of a long barrel.

 

[spudnut]

I'd like to know where you get stock for a ramrod for these.I have the middlesex fowler with a 51 inch barrel and snapped it off at the skinny end,I repaired it good enough to push wadding but wouldnt push a tight patched ball.I just made a rangerod out of 1/2 in. dowel for pushing ball,Had to slice six inches onto a 48 inch rod.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I split mine out of a hickory tree.

 

[rickystl]

You can order hickory rods longer than 48" from Steve Bailey here in Missouri. He requires a minimum order of 10. He advertises in the Classified section of the Muzzle Blast magazine.
Meantime, if you just need one for now, I have several that are 57" long and in different diameters. I seem to recall the rod on that gun was very tapered and narrow at the bottom. Anyway, PM me if your interested and let me know what diameter you need. Rick.