Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Smoothbores anyone?

This morning I didn't feel much like XC skiing as I'd done quite a bit Thursday and Friday. Sooo....after pilfering through the toy box to find something to play with I saw my much unused Virginia fowler sitting their looking all forlorn. I haven't worked much with this firearm so I grabbed it and headed for the range.



Fowlers such as this are much more what was used in the battles of Lexington and Concord Bridge. Not rifles as is oftenwrongly assumed. This particular fowler, they were not yet called shotguns, is 20 bore, has a 42 inch barrel with the breech end being octagon for 12 inches up the barrel where the transition to round is seperated by a wedding band





Stock is of fairly straight grained maple but "back in the day" walnut was not uncommon. Single trigger, large Siler lock and iron fittings. This one was built by Jackie Brown and while his work is OK I can't recommend him, unless he's gotten his act together a lot better than it was.

I'm really not much of a shotgunner, much preferring rifled arms but when I first got the fowler I worked up a load consisting of 60 grs. of Ffg, two card wads, 1 1/8 oz of shot and the over shot card. Componets shown below.



I included the cushion wad and experimented with it but dropped it from the load as it was causing donut patterns. A not uncommon occurance with fowlers. These aren't long range smoothbores as they're all open bore. All patterning was done at 25 yards and I finally got to a modified pattern at that range. There are tricks that can be used to tighten the pattern and I experimented with a couple which did indeed tighten things up a bit. Plastic shot cups, plastic wads with the base cut off, worked pretty fair and I made some paper shot cups but never did get the right balance of slits in the sides for the paper cup to seperate from the shot column....and they're a lot of trouble to make. So I stayed traditional and learned to live with what I had.

In the old days wasp nests and hornets nest material was used for wadding. I have used it and it does work well. Problem for me is finding enough of it. I've used dried corn stalk leaves and they worked. Even killed a couple doves using them for wadding but that was with an original 12 bore percussion double gun, not a flint fowler.

Today I wanted to play with patched round ball and my load was again 60 grs. of Ffg with a .600 ball that weighs 332 grs. from my mold and a .020 tightly woven cotton patch. I am not good without a rear sight and sometimes not good with one! I was more playing than seriously trying to learn the gun so I fired offhand at ranges from 75 to 60 yards. I fired about 25 rounds and hit my 3/4 in. mild steel buffalo target 3 times. Two things I noticed....that big ol' pumpkin roller sure throws up a pile of snow and dirt when it hits the ground and when it hits steel makes a most satisfying thwwwwaaaaaaack!



Above at left is the .600 RB with the following size RB's following to the right: .530, .440 and .350. I haven't owned a 50 in probably 20 years so had no .490's to photograph.

I have done some accuracy testing with the fowler in the past and from 60 yards in it is fairly darn accurate with PRB's.....as long as I locate my head at the same spot weld on the stock every time. At 25 yards it will actually cloverleaf. As with any smoothbore your eye is the rear sight. Friends of mine have joked "sure it will....but the barrel reaches half way to the target so you're only shooting 12 1/2 yards". wellll....so what! hehe

I always like to find my patches and examine them to see how the bore likes the combo. Below are 4 patches I found before they melted into the snow.



This is how I like to see them. So intact they could be used again. And this with no swabbing the bore for the entire string. There are some advantges to a fowler.

Here is another shot of the fowler and beneath it is my 12 bore Pedersoli double. It is a fun gun as are almost all firearms.

I've taken a few birds and squirrels with the double gun and a few squirrels with the fowler. I have yet to try the fowler on birds but I want to start with something slow and close!!!!!

[img]http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq41/sharps4070/P1010080-1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq41/sharps4070/P1010087-1.jpg[/img]

I really don't know much fowler history as it's only in about the last 15-20 years that interest has literally exploded iin reference to them. There are currently a few very good books on them and their evolution but I haven't invested in any. I do know they were more prevelent in the more settled areas than rifles as hunting had become more of a sport than a means of survival, as in the frontier districts.

Anyway.....thought ya'll might like to see something a bit different.

Vic

here are my folwers
SXS flintlock 20 gage





hudson valley Fowler . 52 inch barrelas .
a note . this is a short barrel for this fowler . most were in the 60-72 inch range








this the first target for Ball and shot at 25 yards with my Hudson valley./ for wads i was using maple leaves



this was a later shot target same distance but i used fiber wads for this target

[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/captchee/gun%20stock%20artical/DSC00952.jpg[/img]

cap, that double flint fowler is exquisite. Excellent shootin' with the Hudson valley too!!!!

New England fowler.Fusil style stock. I actually like that stock.20 bore (.62).

ET, that is one nice set up, every bit of it. Look at that trigger guard tang! Love that polled 'hawk. Oh, the plaid...are those your "colors"?

Any of you guys trying candle cartridges?

The coat is a classic Woolrich heavy hunting coat. Probly da best ever made. Warm and comfortable. Ya get to appreciate such things in this sort of place

Smoothbores can be useful...

Caywood 12 gauge London Fowler, jug-choked to MC.

yep
here are some photos of our turkey camp that our local club put on one year









here is a small scaled down NW gun i built a young man a few years back . she is a smoth 45 cal

Really? Nobody?

Been considering a smoothbore, and would like to know how they perform with these, first.

Thanks,

Josh

ET, Woolrich is good stuff!!! I have a Filson that is a fine coat also. Love that red plaid!

Joshua, I'm not certain I know what you mean by "candle cartridges". If you mean paper shot containers, yes, I've experimented them.

Mesabi....that is a fine lookin' Caywood fowler. Danny does good stuff....nice turkey too!

cap, those Merriams are something special. Great set of pics and a fine piece for a young man!! I always wanted to play with a smooth rifle. Maybe some day.

Vic

the little smoothbore is a Trade gun and not a smooth rifle .
John has some health issues and the doctors say he will never grow any taller then he is in the photo .
we all hope this isnt true . but he is 10 now and still is no taller then in the photo .
his father tells me that John took a Turkey with the gun a couple years ago . but i dont have any photos of that .

Remember when your talking smoothbores that they were utilitarian pieces .
Not only could they shoot ball but also shot .
Thus not only were they used for fowl but also larger and small game

That hasta be the understatement of the year!!! In THIS neck of the woods back in da day,when you went to plow yer field, you loaded up buck n' ball and slung the gun and went to work. The natives were decidedly NOT friendly in this region. When ya wanted to supplement the larder, you loaded up shot charge and went hunting for the smaller stuff. Load up a ball alone and kill a deer of bear.

Hey Vic, I'm sorry. I thought it was common knowledge.

A candle cartridge is made thus:

1. Get a pipe the diameter of your bore.

2. Stand it up and pour your load of shot in.

3. Pour in beeswax, paraffin, tallow, or whatever, to just cover the shot.

4. Let cool and push out.

This is supposed to give tighter patterns (I've seen it compared once, and it works in that gun, anyway), and keeps you from having to mess with loose shot in the field. Just load the powder charge, put in an overpowder wad, ram the candle cartridge home, prime and fire.

Maybe this will be of some use to someone? Been trying to get a lead on a smooth barrel for my T/C New Englander just to try it.

Josh

cap, I apologize, I thought I read in the post it was a smooth rifle, obviously not!! It was early this morning...can I use that as an excuse?

I fire PRB out of my fowler a lot more than shot. I'm really not much of a scattergunner.

ET, up where you are, yes, the locals were decidedly unfriendly. For 30 years I studied the west and the wars out there. Then about 7 years ago I moved east a couple thousand miles and back in time a couple generations. The west has absolutely nothing on the east. Wow...did I get an education.

Joshua, I believe this is the first time I've heard of loading shot in that manner. Sounds interesting and as if it would do exactly as you describe. I wonder if there would be any lube benefit from it?

Vic

Vic,

Well Sir, I would think mebbso. My patches are lubed with 50/50 beeswax/olive oil, but I only have rifles, too.

It's one of the first things I plan to try with a smoothbore, but gotta get said smoothbore first!

Please share your findings, Sir, should you try this out. I'm very interested!

Josh

Man I have said it before and I'll say it till I go cold. There is enough of a difference between traditional ML and In-lines that the only comparison is they load from the muzzle and that's it.

Those rifles posted above are so beautiful and YET so very functional.

Thank you OP and the rest for sharing.

HaYen

Campfire Brudder Ha Yen, I have been wrestling wid meself to NOT bust yer stones on this BUT THE DEBBIL MADE ME DO IT!!!!


Them's ain't rifle guns, they is smoothbores

ET...I failed to compliment you on that horn also. Horns are about as neat as the rest of the goodies!!! Here's mine.



It's a map horn and the map is from a 1710 French map of my part of Missouri. A friend of mine made it....2-3 years ago. I believe he is now a member in good standing with the "Honourable Company of Horners".

Vic

Good stuff there fellas them's some real muzzleloaders there!