My mind is made up but what fowler

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I'm getting rid of all firearms and settling on only 5 and they are all going to be bp. 1 hunting rifle, 1 sxs shotgun, 1 fowler, 2 pistols (one for hunting one for protection).

My rifle will be a Pedersolie Missouri River Hawken in .50cal and maple wood.

My sxs shotgun will be a Pedersolie in 10 gage or a possible 12 of high quality.

I know nothing about fowler but I need one for small game such as rabbit, squire and the such. I want something that shoots shot and ball and is very accurate and not extremely long. What would fit this need.

My first pistol will be a Pietta 1851 in .44 cal with long 7.5 inch barrel for hunting.
My second pistol will be a Pietta 1851 in.44 cal but only a 3 inch barrel for protection.

After this I will never buy another gun unless one breaks and can not be fixed.

What fowler suggestions do you have and why. Something nice as it will be my only one.
Good Morning, Bob.
I can relate to how you feel about Modern Firearms. I like them, they are great.
With that said I have not used one since 1998. Strictly muzzleloaders. I have several longarms, a few revolvers,and a few single shots. Only 2 are flintlock, 1 rifle, one pistol.
I use them for hunting and home protection, my wife has a few Modern Arms. I am getting a Kibler Southern Mountain Rifle. Then saving for a Kibler Colonial .58 caliber smoothbore.
I have fun with them and feel safe.
Best of luck with your Fowler. Just a suggestion get a Kibler Colonial in .54 or .58 find some one to assemble it for you,just and idea.
Take Care Brother.
 
I'm getting rid of all firearms and settling on only 5 and they are all going to be bp. 1 hunting rifle, 1 sxs shotgun, 1 fowler, 2 pistols (one for hunting one for protection).

My rifle will be a Pedersolie Missouri River Hawken in .50cal and maple wood.

My sxs shotgun will be a Pedersolie in 10 gage or a possible 12 of high quality.

I know nothing about fowler but I need one for small game such as rabbit, squire and the such. I want something that shoots shot and ball and is very accurate and not extremely long. What would fit this need.

My first pistol will be a Pietta 1851 in .44 cal with long 7.5 inch barrel for hunting.
My second pistol will be a Pietta 1851 in.44 cal but only a 3 inch barrel for protection.

After this I will never buy another gun unless one breaks and can not be fixed.

What fowler suggestions do you have and why. Something nice as it will be my only one.
I love my 20 SxS smoothbore. Shoots shot and ball. Patterns well. It was made by Pedersoli... light and easy to bring up into position. It is a perc not a flint
 
Don't let all the negative government Rederick stop you from owning or enjoying what you want. As far as black p[owder or modern
it's up to you. In the 50s they limited the military style weapons, and few complained ... then along came the AR15 and things began to
change. In the USA they will never be able to take them all away..... make it harder, etc. limit the military styles, but to take them all NEVER HAPPEN. "We the people" and there's just too many of "We the people".
 
Cartridge guns have been around long enough for the median age to go way up from what it used to be. And if you factor in all the added population since they came along, the lack of institutions there are to corral the crazies nowadays, the 26% of the adult population estimated to have a mental disorder in a given year…. Yes… 26%! 1 out of 4! This from Johns Hopkins, and not some yahoo on the radio.

That many loonies walking around means there’s a whole lot of them to run across.

I’d have to vote for a cartridge gun for personal protection.
 
I have got to rethink my fowler thought. I thought fowler were small smothered in like.45 cal I did not realize they were 20 gage. I may just find somebody to make a curly maple stock for a Seneca I have and just hunt small stuff in .36 cal.



Yes I have one Car but 6 honda four wheelers. If it wasn't for my car being a Honda I may have shot it and moved on to nothing but 4 wheelers.
I never hunt small game with a fowler. Don't like picking shot out of my teeth. Now birds on the fly,,, that is something else entirely. I have never ground sluiced a game bird,,, ever. Except turkey. Too hard to get them to fly... always want to run away.... cowards!!!
 
People did use BP for protection. That was when the guys they were needing protection from used BP also. Not so today.

That said, I envy your ability to make a call like that and be content. I enjoy some modern era firearms just for the craftsmanship and never fire them. These are mostly heirloom guns that have been passed down in my family.
 
What I need to do is ask for the definition of "fowler". I was under the impression that a fowler was small bore of about .45 cal to around .32 cal.

The point of this post it to find a long gun that would take over for what I would normally use a .22/410 for.
 
What I need to do is ask for the definition of "fowler". I was under the impression that a fowler was small bore of about .45 cal to around .32 cal.

The point of this post it to find a long gun that would take over for what I would normally use a .22/410 for.
Good evening, Bob a .54 caliber smoothbore is equivalent to a 28 gauge shotgun.
.58 caliber is equivalent to a 24 gauge.
I use to hunt with my Grandpa Chubs
.22/410 Steven Savage in my youth.
 
Good evening, Bob a .54 caliber smoothbore is equivalent to a 28 gauge shotgun.
.58 caliber is equivalent to a 24 gauge.
I use to hunt with my Grandpa Chubs
.22/410 Steven Savage in my youth.

Thank you for the information. My point is I already have a rifle in 50 cal and a sxs shotgun in 10 or12 gage so why do I need a 54 cal smoth bore? I'm not using a 10 or 12 gage to shoot squirel and rabbit.

I want something in .45 or smaller and good for out to 35 yards.

I don't eat squirel or rabbit any more but I remember getting off the school bus as a kid and grabbing the .22 and head down the road and shooting squirel or getting the 410 and walking the fields and rabbit hunting. Grandma would cook regular dinner and whatever we killed she would cook it too. I use to love squirel and rabbit but now I'm not a big fan off it, too many years of eating beef.

I don't need a .54 cal to shoot small game. I need something small but I think I'm too frustrated to care anymore. I mean my goodness our entire sport is based on eastern small bore guns and later big bore as they went farther west and all of a sudden only thing people know is big bore musket size guns. Either I'm am very dumb or the community has drifter away to a different knowledge base than I know. I'm sure in 5 more years I will be told that only high capacity magazine muzzleloaders were ever used.

I remember that when grandma made chicken how we knew it wasn't store bought. Grandma would just step onto the back porch and shoot a chicken or roster with the 410 and later at dinner we would be pulling pellets out of our mouthed every few bites.

Is a fowler simply just a smooth bore gun or is a fowler a citizen made musket? What is a fowler and what was popular bore?
 
Thank you for the information. My point is I already have a rifle in 50 cal and a sxs shotgun in 10 or12 gage so why do I need a 54 cal smoth bore? I'm not using a 10 or 12 gage to shoot squirel and rabbit.

I want something in .45 or smaller and good for out to 35 yards.

I don't eat squirel or rabbit any more but I remember getting off the school bus as a kid and grabbing the .22 and head down the road and shooting squirel or getting the 410 and walking the fields and rabbit hunting. Grandma would cook regular dinner and whatever we killed she would cook it too. I use to love squirel and rabbit but now I'm not a big fan off it, too many years of eating beef.

I don't need a .54 cal to shoot small game. I need something small but I think I'm too frustrated to care anymore. I mean my goodness our entire sport is based on eastern small bore guns and later big bore as they went farther west and all of a sudden only thing people know is big bore musket size guns. Either I'm am very dumb or the community has drifter away to a different knowledge base than I know. I'm sure in 5 more years I will be told that only high capacity magazine muzzleloaders were ever used.

I remember that when grandma made chicken how we knew it wasn't store bought. Grandma would just step onto the back porch and shoot a chicken or roster with the 410 and later at dinner we would be pulling pellets out of our mouthed every few bites.

Is a fowler simply just a smooth bore gun or is a fowler a citizen made musket? What is a fowler and what was popular bore?
Bob I apologize if I caused your frustration to grow.
To my understanding a Fowler is a smoothbore.
Your could look for a .32, .36, .40, or a .45 caliber rifle.
Aging I apologize, just trying to help.
Gum Slough
 
Bob I apologize if I caused your frustration to grow.
To my understanding a Fowler is a smoothbore.
Your could look for a .32, .36, .40, or a .45 caliber rifle.
Aging I apologize, just trying to help.
Gum Slough
No your fine I just did not understand what a fowler is. Sorry bout that, I wasn't ranting at you I was not understanding most all post. Thank you for your comments as it has help me understand better and I need to rethink my squirel rifle.
 
A fowling piece or trade gun is a smooth bore by definition. The trade guns may sometimes have thicker barrels than shotguns because they were more often loaded with round balls rather than shot (especially so in the reproduction market, originals were very light for the most part) but still operate the same way a shotgun would. Like a modern shotgun, they can be loaded with shot of any size, round balls/slugs, or a combination of these. Bore size of a "fowler" could be anything from about 10 to about 28 gauge but typically trade guns were 24 or 20.

If you don't like a shotty for small game, you need a rifled smallbore like 30 to 40 caliber, most commonly 32 or 36 caliber in reproductions.
 
N.W. Trade gun 5.5 pds. , 40" barrel , 20 ga..
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20230508_120225.jpg
    IMG_20230508_120225.jpg
    3.8 MB
  • IMG_20230508_115913.jpg
    IMG_20230508_115913.jpg
    4.6 MB
  • IMG_20230508_115929.jpg
    IMG_20230508_115929.jpg
    4.7 MB
  • IMG_20230508_120055.jpg
    IMG_20230508_120055.jpg
    3.8 MB
  • IMG_20230508_120039.jpg
    IMG_20230508_120039.jpg
    4.9 MB
  • IMG_20230508_120016.jpg
    IMG_20230508_120016.jpg
    5 MB
Thank you for the information. My point is I already have a rifle in 50 cal and a sxs shotgun in 10 or12 gage so why do I need a 54 cal smoth bore? I'm not using a 10 or 12 gage to shoot squirel and rabbit.

I want something in .45 or smaller and good for out to 35 yards.

I don't eat squirel or rabbit any more but I remember getting off the school bus as a kid and grabbing the .22 and head down the road and shooting squirel or getting the 410 and walking the fields and rabbit hunting. Grandma would cook regular dinner and whatever we killed she would cook it too. I use to love squirel and rabbit but now I'm not a big fan off it, too many years of eating beef.

I don't need a .54 cal to shoot small game. I need something small but I think I'm too frustrated to care anymore. I mean my goodness our entire sport is based on eastern small bore guns and later big bore as they went farther west and all of a sudden only thing people know is big bore musket size guns. Either I'm am very dumb or the community has drifter away to a different knowledge base than I know. I'm sure in 5 more years I will be told that only high capacity magazine muzzleloaders were ever used.

I remember that when grandma made chicken how we knew it wasn't store bought. Grandma would just step onto the back porch and shoot a chicken or roster with the 410 and later at dinner we would be pulling pellets out of our mouthed every few bites.

Is a fowler simply just a smooth bore gun or is a fowler a citizen made musket? What is a fowler and what was popular bore?
Fowler is just an 18 th century name for a shotgun or smoothbore . They didn't call them shotguns back them , they called them fowlers. And guns were called guns , smoothbore , and rifles called rifles , rifled bore . Military guns were called muskets and fowlers that were specifically made for the Fur trade were called trade guns . Popular gauges, but not limited to , for civilian fowlers were 24 ga. , 20ga, 16ga.,12ga, 10 ga.
 
Back
Top