What length barrel do you prefer?

[Roguedog]

Well, I have been wanting a smoothbore flintlock and have decided to use this winter putting one together from a kit.

My primary questions is what barrel length do you guys recommend? I understand that personal preference plays a large role in this decision. However, are there advantages to longer barrels vs. shorter ones? To me, it would seem that a 44"-46" barrel would be cumbersome but then again, I have never handled one.

Second, I have been looking at kits. I have mainly looked at Chambers and also the kits from TOTW. Do you guys recommend one over the other. Also, how difficult is it to put together a Chambers kit?

Sorry for all the questions and I realize these topics may have already been beat to death but I would certainly appreciate any advice that you all would provide. Thanks.

Jeff

 

[Eric Krewson]

I made a 12ga fowler with a 38" barrel, it is a joy to carry but in all honesty it is so light in the barrel it it is hard to hold steady for round ball shooting offhand.

I built the gun for turkeys, the short barrel shines for this application. I am always in a ground blind made of natural materials, hunkered down behind a log, or shooting off my knee when I turkey hunt so the light barrel isn't a problem.

 

[Keb]

I prefer a long barrel, no shorter than 46", preferably 48". I've a 20 ga. x 48" that shoots and handles very good. This one is a Getz barrel but I'm sure that has nothing to do with how it shoots. I'm working on a cherry stocked 24 ga. now with a 42" barrel. It seems short to me. I don't think the longer barrels are at all cumbersome for how I use them but I think that's more of a personal preference. I've a Bess copy 46" by 10 ga. waiting in the wings to be built. The weight difference of the 2 guns will be about 2 to 3 lbs. The bigger 10 ga. barrel and cast brass fittings being the difference.
As far as kits go, I rarely put them together and I've only done one Chambers about 25 years ago. It's hard to recommend one kit over another. Both require some knowledge. Books help but hands on is a good teacher. A mentor is good too.

 

[BrownBear]

Depends on your use. Eric makes excellent points along those lines. For round ball, go long. For true shotgun uses, especially wing shooting, it's more about balance and a fit with your shooting circumstances. I briefly owned a fine fowler with a 46 inch barrel. Love the looks, but after a couple of hunts I happily dumped it.

Yeah, I'm a shotgun guy with no ambitions for round ball shooting. For my hunts (long climbs and walks for high country ptarmigan, slithering through brushy tangles for snowshoe hare, and ducks taken mostly when I sit up from laying flat on my back in a ground blind), it's all about weight, quick responsiveness and convenience. My Pietta 12 ga SxS is almost ideal with its 28" barrels if I recall correctly. Only thing that would make it better for my needs would be if it was a 20 ga.

 

[hunts4deer]

I have a 12 gauge with a 56 inch barrel. The gun is taller than me. It weighs only 8 lbs 10 ounces, so long guns don't have to be excessively heavy.

It does sometimes take a little bit extra care to thread it through the forest understory, where 1 inch saplings are thick, but a 46 inch barrel would not be all that much of a challenge.

Long barrels do add some stability, in that they have "angular inertia" if you will, keeping its' alignment on target more steady than a very short barrel would.

A 46 inch barrel just looks right on a flintlock, if aesthetics are important to you. Although English sporting gun barrels around late 18th C. and early 19th got pretty short.

My opinion only.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

What are you going to use this "smoothbore" for? Upland type shooting?.... I like to stay under 40" and prefer 38" with a huge breech like 1 3/8" and thin walls where the weight is between my hands. A duck or goose gun should be longer. For modern shooting of round balls with a patch, choose a thick walled barrel in the length you like your rifles.
Weight and where it is located is of prime importance and most off the peg barrels are too think IMO, especially the smaller bore of those made in two bore sizes using the same OD.

I would take a Chambers kit over a TOW any day.

 

[nwtradegun]

30 to 32 inches. easier to carry. does not warp if stock does. good sight plane. easirer to load. I have had 8 smoothbores and that length is perfect. current one is a 31 inch barrel 12 ga. trade musket flintlock.

 

[faste350]

i have a 31" 20 gauge and wouldn't have anything else. great for small game and deer.

 

[Spikebuck]

Jeff,

Chambers vs ToTW. I have built ToTW kits and they ranged from a square forestock (no shaping) to a very fat stock that perhaps did not even have the correct basic features. Lots of inletting to do, in fact, I wondered why they even bothered. Now...they turn out just fine with patience and work.

I have two Chambers kits in the hopper right now. Both had basically snap-fit barrel channels (have to square up the back at the breech, and almost ready fit lock inlets. There is certainly work to be done...they are not in-the-white, but there is much less work to be done than with a ToTW kit, IMO. Chambers basic stock wood is also a better grade off the bat than ToTW (more curl).

I am getting ready to put an order into Chambers for their Pennsylvania Fowler. Even with a 46" barrel, the finished weight is estimated to be only 6 3/4# in 20 GA. So as mentioned earlier...long barreled fowlers don't mean lots of weight. What is prettier than a long, ultra-sleek flintlock fowling piece? :grin:

I have a smooth rifle with a 42" barrel and a Virgina .54 with a 44" barrel and neither is a problem for me in the woods around here. BUT, I'm not wing shooting. If I were, I'd have a short barreled SxS.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I would take a Chambers kit over a TOW any day.

Can you elaborate on why?
Feel free to PM me if you don't want to muck up this thread.

 

[hanshi]

Mine has a non-tapered 38" X 20ga barrel. It's wonderful with ball and handles shot like a champ. I think it must weigh around 7.5 pounds; I added a sling to it and ordered it with a rear sight. It handles very well and I like it a lot.

 

[jamieorr]

I just ordered the Pennsylvania fowler too, although I asked for a blank stock. I figured that the carving looked like the most enjoyable part of the job so why not do it all. If things go really sideways, I can always go back and buy the precarved stock, but I don't expect it will come to that.

I don't know if this will be the right barrel length, but the weight is good and the gun looks great in the website. I also read as much as I reasonably could before ordering so I'm fairly sure I'll be happy.

Jamie

 

[jamesthomas]

I believe it also depends on how big you are, long and tall with long arms? or short statued with short arms, also how is the back doing? To me all these things come into play, what is your best LOP?. This will determine what kind of balance you will have with a long barrel. I have a 12 1/2 LOP so a 42 inch barrel is too long for me while a 36 inch barrel is just fine. :2

 

[BrownBear]

That's a good point. I'm kinda big and lanky, with a t-shirt LOP of 14 3/4". Common weather conditions can be a factor, too. I like my shotguns shorter than that (13 1/2") because I'm almost always shooting with a jacket or more. I tend to throw my shots high when wing shooting if the LOP is too long.

 

[Cheape]

Before last year I've never even owned a firearm, so was not used to holding ANY length of barrel. I've always had an eye for the longer barrels on a flintlock so opted for a 46" barrel with a 14 1/4" LOP for my first, fairly hefty. I can honestly say after a year of carrying and shooting through heavy brush, I have no problems and no regrets on my decision, and would have even opted for a 50" if I could have.

Like others before me have said, though, your height and arm length could have a huge deal as to what "fits" you. I'm 6' with fairly lanky arms so that may be why I have no issues. But then again, barrels tended to be longer and men shorter a few centuries ago, seemed to work for them.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I would take a Chambers kit over a TOW any day.

Can you elaborate on why?
Feel free to PM me if you don't want to muck up this thread.

Jim ' kits have good architecture built in, they all have the best off the peg locks you can currently buy with no close second,and I like the workability of his investment cast brass. Those are a few reasons off the top of my head.

 

[stantdm]

I have a .62 caliber NW Trade gun with a 42" barrel. I recently shot the same kind with a 36" barrel and am thinking of cutting mine down. It just felt better for what I do with mine which is ducks over decoys and turkey. It was just a bit better "feeling" compared to mine.

 

[smoothshooter]

I currently have, or have had, smoothbore barrels in 42", 40", and 36".
For the foreseeable future, my purchases will be 38" or less. Maybe 30" or 34" for the next one.

Why?
The shorter barrels are a less awkward to load and clean, fit in standard length cases better, store hidden in a vehicle easier to help prevent theft, and I prefer to have the bore well below eye level when inserting wads and other components.

I don't like shorter barrels under 30 inches, because it's harder to hold the muzzle end of the barrel at a safe angle in the crook of the non-dominant arm when reloading with the butt on the ground.

Never did like having to stoop over and clamp the gun between my knees to load a shorter barrel either.

 

[Stumpkiller]

When I ordered my fowler I took the measurents of my cherished grouse gun, an Ithaca SKB 200-E 20 ga. SxS, that stole my heart the moment I lifted her at a gunshop and everything lined up and the angels sang. And that's just what my fowler does . . . even with a 42" barrel. She's walnut stocked and tips the scale at exactly seven pounds. 16 gauge oct. to round and swamped.

Also throws a round ball where I'm looking out to 60 yards.

I also have a relatively short T/C New Englander, I think it's a 28" barrel, and that does fine. That's jug choked to modified and it bakes a great bunny gun in the wild rose and hawthorn thickets. Not really any quicker on point as it balances about the same. Between the hands.

The NE was a kit that I fit to myself. I'm really surprised they weren't more popular. But it is a percussion and just not as interesting to hunt with. ;-)

 

[Grandpa Ron]

I prefer the balance of the 38" barrel on my 20 gauge. The 42" barrel on my 28 ga. Is heavy but hangs nice for target work.