What's your favorite Fowler

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troy fairweather

troy fairweather

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Up State New York
I never owned one, I guess my 15ga h&a underhammer could be considered one. The usefulness of them are nice going from shot to round ball. I'd like to get one for deer hunting in close and to do some small game as well. What are the options out there the only kind I know off are the French trade guns. I'd like to find a kit to.
 
No fowlers exactly, but four flintlock smoothbores and one 1968 vintage percussion 28 gauge single barrel shotgun.
Of the flintlocks the #1 favorite is a NSW Officers fusil in .65/16 gauge. It get taken more than any other firearm I own, muzzleloader or modern. Next is another NSW long gun, an Early English trade gun. The last two are a used Pedersoli Bess carbine that’s been altered with a turtle front sight and different side plate to look more like a trade gun and a first model Bess made from TRS parts. The barrel isn’t right for a first model Bess so I refer to it as a Commitee of Safety musket.
I haven’t shot the Pedersoli yet. The COS shoots well but weighs so much I seldom shoot it.
 
Flintshooter said:
No fowlers exactly, but four flintlock smoothbores and one 1968 vintage percussion 28 gauge single barrel shotgun.
Of the flintlocks the #1 favorite is a NSW Officers fusil in .65/16 gauge. It get taken more than any other firearm I own, muzzleloader or modern. Next is another NSW long gun, an Early English trade gun. The last two are a used Pedersoli Bess carbine that’s been altered with a turtle front sight and different side plate to look more like a trade gun and a first model Bess made from TRS parts. The barrel isn’t right for a first model Bess so I refer to it as a Commitee of Safety musket.
I haven’t shot the Pedersoli yet. The COS shoots well but weighs so much I seldom shoot it.
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Thanks for the info and the reply, what is the difference between a Fowler and a smooth bore lol. That 28 of yours sounds fun. I live in New York I so under if there a rifle for this area.
 
I think the main difference is stock design and fowlers might have a little more decoration.
For competition, most smoothbore matches will not allow rear sights. Once you get used to what you are shooting, this is as least as much an advantage as a disadvantage. The stock design determines how you sight down the barrel, and, for me at least the French and Early English (very similar to the French) designs don’t shoulder for snap shots (like birds) as well as straighter stocked guns like a Bess. Others mileage may vary.
 
troy fairweather said:
Thanks for the info and the reply, what is the difference between a Fowler and a smooth bore lol. That 28 of yours sounds fun. I live in New York I so under if there a rifle for this area.
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The 28 gauge was bought from Century Arms back in 1968 for the princely sum of $19.50. It was my second muzzleloader.Until I upgraded to an original double barrel 10 gauge English gun in 1972, the 28 was my main squirrel gun. The 10 gauge was stolen in a burglary in 1999 but I still have the .28. I really should put it back in service.
 
Flintshooter said:
I think the main difference is stock design and fowlers might have a little more decoration.
For competition, most smoothbore matches will not allow rear sights. Once you get used to what you are shooting, this is as least as much an advantage as a disadvantage. The stock design determines how you sight down the barrel, and, for me at least the French and Early English (very similar to the French) designs don’t shoulder for snap shots (like birds) as well as straighter stocked guns like a Bess. Others mileage may vary.
Click to expand...
if one know to much but I tend to like simpler guns I don't care for shinny brass. The flatter but on the English guns look more natural shaped compared to the French. I don't know of any shoots are my area, I seen some have filed a notch at the rear does that count as a sight. I'm pretty good with slugs from a shotguns with the bead so I think I'll be fine.
 
Flintshooter said:
The 28 gauge was bought from Century Arms back in 1968 for the princely sum of $19.50. It was my second muzzleloader.Until I upgraded to an original double barrel 10 gauge English gun in 1972, the 28 was my main squirrel gun. The 10 gauge was stolen in a burglary in 1999 but I still have the .28. I really should put it back in service.
Click to expand...
I'd like shooting bp shotguns it's a lot of fun. I'd like to use a double for deer but can't in New york. Kinda why I have not gotten the pedersoli sxs. Sucks someone stole the 10.
 
troy fairweather said:
if one know to much but I tend to like simpler guns I don't care for shinny brass. The flatter but on the English guns look more natural shaped compared to the French. I don't know of any shoots are my area, I seen some have filed a notch at the rear does that count as a sight. I'm pretty good with slugs from a shotguns with the bead so I think I'll be fine.
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The rear sight rule is no rear sight above the plane of the barrel so notches are allowed.
If you have any chance at all to play with one of the Pedersoli Besses, either full length or carbine, I would give them serious consideration. They should handle anything from doves to moose.
 
Flintshooter said:
The rear sight rule is no rear sight above the plane of the barrel so notches are allowed.
If you have any chance at all to play with one of the Pedersoli Besses, either full length or carbine, I would give them serious consideration. They should handle anything from doves to moose.
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I wish there were more muzzleloader shops to look at some guns. The only one I know of is dixsons in pa I've been there nice place. But it's 2 hours drive and money is tight.
 
troy fairweather said:
I wish there were more muzzleloader shops to look at some guns. The only one I know of is dixsons in pa I've been there nice place. But it's 2 hours drive and money is tight.
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For looking at Besses and other muskets there should be some re-enactments from time to time where you could see and handle them.
Here is a list of New York charter clubs. Depending on where you live there may be clubs in neighboring states that are closer.
  • Alabama Hunt Club , Shoots 1st Sunday monthly, Sue Smith, 4777 East Rd., Batavia, NY 14020, 585-343-7620; [email protected], alabamahuntclub.com 12/17
  • Land of the Senecas , Meat Shoots 1st Sunday of May and 1st Sunday of October, Rendezvous 1st weekend of August, Chuck Plant PO Box 282 Odessa, NY 14869, 607-387-6987, [email protected]
  • St. Lawrence Longrifles , Shoots 2nd Monday, May through Sept.; June 8, 2019 Border Skirmish Musket Shoot; July 19-21, 2019 NNY Muzzleloading Championship; Aug. 24, 2019 BPCR 330 yd Gong Shoot. Barry Dietlein, 1047 Maple Ridge Road, Brasher Falls, NY 13613, 315-769-2095, [email protected]
 
Flintshooter said:
For looking at Besses and other muskets there should be some re-enactments from time to time where you could see and handle them.
Here is a list of New York charter clubs. Depending on where you live there may be clubs in neighboring states that are closer.
  • Alabama Hunt Club , Shoots 1st Sunday monthly, Sue Smith, 4777 East Rd., Batavia, NY 14020, 585-343-7620; [email protected], alabamahuntclub.com 12/17
  • Land of the Senecas , Meat Shoots 1st Sunday of May and 1st Sunday of October, Rendezvous 1st weekend of August, Chuck Plant PO Box 282 Odessa, NY 14869, 607-387-6987, [email protected]
  • St. Lawrence Longrifles , Shoots 2nd Monday, May through Sept.; June 8, 2019 Border Skirmish Musket Shoot; July 19-21, 2019 NNY Muzzleloading Championship; Aug. 24, 2019 BPCR 330 yd Gong Shoot. Barry Dietlein, 1047 Maple Ridge Road, Brasher Falls, NY 13613, 315-769-2095, [email protected]
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Thanks, I am closer to the city but a few miles from pa and nj. There have a club in beacon ny about 45 minutes away. I wish I knew some locals but there are only a few.

Since bp is banded in New York, I can go out of state to get real black but it's pricey if I can find any. Have you use substitutes in flintlocks before.
 
Never used anything but real black in any muzzleloader. Tried some Pyrodex in a paper cartridge Sharps when it first came out. Fired about ten shots and burned the rest of it off with a foot of canon fuse.
I just did a quick search of NY laws. THEY ARE INSANE!!!!!! If I was only a few miles from PA I’d move there. As I read it you have to have placards on your vehicle saying you have explosives if all you have is a small day horn of powder. Even with the five pounds you are allowed for possession, the gas in your tank is more dangerous. Is that law actually routinely obeyed and enforced?
I had FedEx bring a 25 pound case to my front door not that long ago - and I still had five or six pounds from a previous order.
My best advice is to find a good friend in PA to accept a shipment from one of the many mail order dealers. Or move to PA.
 
Flintshooter said:
Never used anything but real black in any muzzleloader. Tried some Pyrodex in a paper cartridge Sharps when it first came out. Fired about ten shots and burned the rest of it off with a foot of canon fuse.
I just did a quick search of NY laws. THEY ARE INSANE!!!!!! If I was only a few miles from PA I’d move there. As I read it you have to have placards on your vehicle saying you have explosives if all you have is a small day horn of powder. Even with the five pounds you are allowed for possession, the gas in your tank is more dangerous. Is that law actually routinely obeyed and enforced?
I had FedEx bring a 25 pound case to my front door not that long ago - and I still had five or six pounds from a previous order.
My best advice is to find a good friend in PA to accept a shipment from one of the many mail order dealers. Or move to PA.
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Believe me if I had the money to move I would. I am 6 miles from pa and about 5 form nj. I have never seen ny in force the 5 pound law, I'd say 90% of guys don't even know about it. My banned explosives and bp was on the list. Shame with ny it was a very big sportsman state before the 70s.
 
Discounting an hour at Kennedy and thumbing from VT to the Albany airport in 75 and back to VT from the Albany airport in 80, the only time my feet have been in NY was when I was hiking the AT.
Three years ago the Eastern Rendzvous was in north central PA close to Elmira, NY. I was going to visit all the Mark Twain sites in Elmira on the trip home but was advised that the powder and guns I was carrying could get me in trouble if there was an accident.
 
Flintshooter said:
Discounting an hour at Kennedy and thumbing from VT to the Albany airport in 75 and back to VT from the Albany airport in 80, the only time my feet have been in NY was when I was hiking the AT.
Three years ago the Eastern Rendzvous was in north central PA close to Elmira, NY. I was going to visit all the Mark Twain sites in Elmira on the trip home but was advised that the powder and guns I was carrying could get me in trouble if there was an accident.
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I like Tennessee or Kentucky, I lived in Alabama for 2 years when my parents separated. Wish I never left but I was only 16 them.
 
I have a Pedersoli SxS 20 gauge caplock with choked barrels. Great upland bird gun.
I have a Pedersoli Trade Musket, flintlock 20 gauge, in cylinder bore. Good reliable gun.
I have an India origin tradegun, from Loyalist Arms LLC in Canada, 20 gauge flintlock, also cylinder bore. Good little gun, especially for the price.

LD
 
You could check out Sitting Fox. The have a large selection of kits. I have a Virginia flint fowler in .54/28ga. It's a great gun with roundball and shot. Sometimes I wish it was a Fusil in 20ga.
 
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