- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
- Messages
- 480
- Reaction score
- 661
If your shooting extends beyond 25 yards, I'd seriously consider jug choking no matter what gauge you go with.
If I was having a gun built, I'd contact Mike Brooks. You'll receive an authentic arm with top quality craftsmanship and components
I've taken plenty of birds with a Caywood and it's a decent gun for what it is, but I'm not too concerned with authenticity and apparently neither were they :rotf: I've got one of their English fowlers with a super premium maple stock. I only care about bagging birds and busting clays, so I didn't think much about stockwood. To people knowledgeable about 18th century guns and concerned with authentcity the maple stock is something of a joke. I think it's pretty, but people are always telling me that the gun should have been stocked in walnut.
The gun throws a decent pattern, and shoulders nicely. Most people smirk if they know what I paid for it, since Caywood is really a production builder rather than custom gunmaker. As far as I know they offer a limited number of styles with a limited number of options, unlike Mike Brooks who will build what you want.
I've been asked many times if I made mine from a kit. When I tell them I bought it finished most of them give me a grin like I said something funny. I used to think it was an inside joke, until I saw one of Mike Brooks guns. There is no comparison. It's like comparing a Perazzi to your fathers Ted Williams shotgun.
The nice thing about a Brooks gun is that they are a lot more gun for a little more money. The Brooks gun I saw was museum quality. Had a beautiful walnut stock, nicely engraved furniture,and an oustanding lock. I think it had a Chambers lock and a Colerain or Getz barrel. It was perfect. Picking up the Caywood afterwards felt like shouldering Pa's Ted Williams shotgun. The engraving details on Mike's gun were amazing. Simply elegant. The engraving on my Caywood is cast in, and it looked nice, until I compared it to Brook's gun.
Mike Rowe makes a nice lock for Caywood. It performs very well, but must concede that the Chamber's lock seemed more appropriate and was better finished. The Caywood lock has a sort of sand blasted texture. It doesn't look old, it looks rough. The Chambers lock seemed aged but better finished. It's difficult to describe but very apparent when you see them up close.
Brook's guns are much more authentically finished. Someone told me that Caywood uses a high pressure finish. My gun had a very high gloss finish when received, and has "clouded" over with use. This is just a guess, but I don't think 18th century guns had high pressure, glossy finishes. The Brooks gun I saw had an amazingly authentic heirloom finish. Frankly, the Brooks gun became the benchmark against which I compared every other fowler I've encountered.
The lucky owner of the Brooks beauty paid a little more than I paid for the Caywood, and has a full custom gun in every sense of the word. Despite my best efforts to buy and trade for the Brooks fowler it's owner wouldn't part with it, because it's truly his gun, and he felt it's one of a kind, unlike my Caywood which is simply a production gun with fancy wood and a high gloss finish. It does the job, but it's nothing unique, and apparently it isn't a very representative copy of an 18th century English fowler.
For someone like myself, who just cares about shooting clays and bagging pheasants the Caywood is good enough. But for someone like yourself, who probably has forgotten more about authenticty than I've learned, I'd think you wouldn't be satisfied by anything less than a Mike Brooks fowler. Heck, if your just itching for a 12 gauge to bag turkeys with this season, I'll sell you my Caywood English folwer for a few hundred dollars less than they sell them for, and I'll use the cash to buy a Brooks fowler myself. :hmm:
If I was having a gun built, I'd contact Mike Brooks. You'll receive an authentic arm with top quality craftsmanship and components
I've taken plenty of birds with a Caywood and it's a decent gun for what it is, but I'm not too concerned with authenticity and apparently neither were they :rotf: I've got one of their English fowlers with a super premium maple stock. I only care about bagging birds and busting clays, so I didn't think much about stockwood. To people knowledgeable about 18th century guns and concerned with authentcity the maple stock is something of a joke. I think it's pretty, but people are always telling me that the gun should have been stocked in walnut.
The gun throws a decent pattern, and shoulders nicely. Most people smirk if they know what I paid for it, since Caywood is really a production builder rather than custom gunmaker. As far as I know they offer a limited number of styles with a limited number of options, unlike Mike Brooks who will build what you want.
I've been asked many times if I made mine from a kit. When I tell them I bought it finished most of them give me a grin like I said something funny. I used to think it was an inside joke, until I saw one of Mike Brooks guns. There is no comparison. It's like comparing a Perazzi to your fathers Ted Williams shotgun.
The nice thing about a Brooks gun is that they are a lot more gun for a little more money. The Brooks gun I saw was museum quality. Had a beautiful walnut stock, nicely engraved furniture,and an oustanding lock. I think it had a Chambers lock and a Colerain or Getz barrel. It was perfect. Picking up the Caywood afterwards felt like shouldering Pa's Ted Williams shotgun. The engraving details on Mike's gun were amazing. Simply elegant. The engraving on my Caywood is cast in, and it looked nice, until I compared it to Brook's gun.
Mike Rowe makes a nice lock for Caywood. It performs very well, but must concede that the Chamber's lock seemed more appropriate and was better finished. The Caywood lock has a sort of sand blasted texture. It doesn't look old, it looks rough. The Chambers lock seemed aged but better finished. It's difficult to describe but very apparent when you see them up close.
Brook's guns are much more authentically finished. Someone told me that Caywood uses a high pressure finish. My gun had a very high gloss finish when received, and has "clouded" over with use. This is just a guess, but I don't think 18th century guns had high pressure, glossy finishes. The Brooks gun I saw had an amazingly authentic heirloom finish. Frankly, the Brooks gun became the benchmark against which I compared every other fowler I've encountered.
The lucky owner of the Brooks beauty paid a little more than I paid for the Caywood, and has a full custom gun in every sense of the word. Despite my best efforts to buy and trade for the Brooks fowler it's owner wouldn't part with it, because it's truly his gun, and he felt it's one of a kind, unlike my Caywood which is simply a production gun with fancy wood and a high gloss finish. It does the job, but it's nothing unique, and apparently it isn't a very representative copy of an 18th century English fowler.
For someone like myself, who just cares about shooting clays and bagging pheasants the Caywood is good enough. But for someone like yourself, who probably has forgotten more about authenticty than I've learned, I'd think you wouldn't be satisfied by anything less than a Mike Brooks fowler. Heck, if your just itching for a 12 gauge to bag turkeys with this season, I'll sell you my Caywood English folwer for a few hundred dollars less than they sell them for, and I'll use the cash to buy a Brooks fowler myself. :hmm:
