Rear sight on Fowler

[frogwalking]

My fowler is still waiting on me to finish the current project, which is on  hold pending learning how to do basic engraving.  In the mean time, the brain still crawls on.  In thinking of putting a rear sight on the aforementioned 20 ga fowler,  I have in mind a very low rear sight with a wide shallow V.  What thinks thee?

I haven't measured outside barrel diameters at the locations of rear and front sights, and height of front sight to see if a rear sight will work (without a higher front).  It also kind of needs to blend in so as not to be in the way for shot gun work.

[Tom Cooper]

  In thinking of putting a rear sight on the aforementioned 20 ga fowler,  I have in mind a very low rear sight with a wide shallow V.  What thinks thee?

I envision a smooth rifle that looks like a fowler...

[erdillonjr]

I put a rear site on my fowler for use on turkeys. A rear site is illegal for smoth bore competion. Ed

[rich pierce]

[t.caster]

It's your gun right? Do what you want! I put a low rear sight on mine for hunting deer, since it always shot low without one. Big difference! Gave me more confidence in my shot.
I don't shoot many smoothbore matches anymore, but if I do I just push it out of it's dovetail and go at it. It has a witness mark so I can put it back in the same position.
For good practice you can put the sight on and shoot it in the rifle matches! Or is that illegal somewhere?

[T*O*F]

A rear site is illegal for smoth bore competion

Not true.  There is a class for sighted smoothbores.

[James Rogers]

Plenty of originals had them. Mostly for those who could not hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle when a target was moving. 
seriously though, many German fowling guns had a wide V type sight and of course the English standing breeches had a groove.
I am sure that many of the rifle type sights found on original smoothe guns used in America were for the average joe to use it as a ball gun and to pot shoot sitting small game.

[rsells]

I restored a lock on an original fowler a few years ago, and it had a small rear sight mounted about 3/4 inch behind the wedding band.  The sight was very similiar to the rear sight Allen Martin uses on some of his rifles.
                                                                                Roger Sells

[Roger Fisher]

A rear site is illegal for smoth bore competion

Not true.  There is a class for sighted smoothbores.

Yes, the territorials have such a class; but very few entries at least in our area Pa.   Clubs in Penna use the trade gun rule (no rear sight) for r ball matches..
and sometimes have trouble getting more than a handfull of entires... Although it seems to be picking up due to some urging.   HmmmmI wonder if a new car for first place would draw them in

[B.Habermehl]

There is certainly no sin in putting a low rear sight on your gun. If you have any thought of shooting competetively you had best check out the prevailing rules at the clubs in your area. As Roger posted here in Pa.  The smooth bore shooting is under trade gun rules mostly up here. So a sighted gun would shoot against the rifles. Just a thought  BJH

[Z. Buck]

you can always make the sight you want and make a slug to fit the dovetail to put in if you decided to shoot it in a match, that way you dont have to worry about your dovetail getting buggered up

[Daryl]

A blank is easily made to fill the dovetail when not using the sight. You can even buy them from track. I must not stick above the barrel's surface, is all.