New England fowler

[Clint]

I recently listened to a lecture about battle in 1635 between the Pequot tribe in S.E. Ct and British colonists, The researchers traced a day long battle between Mystic and the Thames river, 8 miles away. This was the first major engagement between indigenous peoples and British colonists and the casualties were high on both sides. As the research progressed the team located many skirmish sites, where hundreds of musket balls and hundreds of arrow heads were recovered. Along with the ammunition, many other items were cataloged, including parts of guns. The team labeled most of the parts as flintlock musket parts along with some matchlock parts. I would imagine that the ‘flintlock’ parts were actually from dog locks but that is a minor detail.The thing that struck me is the fact that so many of the recovered artifacts were gun parts.
In Grinslade’s book on New England fowlers, many of the New England pieces are put together from French musket parts and I think that trouble with the indigenous folks in northern N.E. which was largely instigated by French territorial ambitions left a lot of broken muskets laying around.

This fowler was started a few years ago when I bought a parts set for a 1717 French musket lock. The lock is typical in size to other musket locks which is 6 1/2” in length and is a great lock for a beginning lock maker to build.The size makes it somewhat forgiving to assemble and the screw sizes are easier to thread than a tiny pistol lock.




The barrel is salvaged from a smooth gun I had built years ago and it fits comfortably with the salvaged part theory around many early fowlers.  I think it was called a Dutch musket barrel by Track of the Wolf and it is .75 cal.All of the brass hardware was made in my blacksmith shop and the stock was once a maple tree in my back yard. The stock was split and chain sawn from the tree and dried for about six years in the furnace room at the shop. I don’t know exactly what kind of maple it is but it is a European variety and is very hard with straight grain. Letting the barrel in was pretty straight forward, I used a skill saw to rough the channel, then I contacted it down with carving chisels.



I used a Henry Diston 7 tooth ripsaw to rough out the comb and tapered the butt from the butt plate width down to the rough wrist width.
I decided to use a metal ramrod ,so I hammered a peice of 1/2” round steel onto the end of a1/4” rod. Although metal rods are slightly heaver than wooden ones, they are certainly slimmer. Cutting the groove for  the ramrod was quick and easy, largely because I used an old fasioned “hags tooth” router to rough out then I clamped a pine board to the stock and ‘jointed the groove  with a quarter inch ramrod drill. the  long hole went very quickly after I sharpened the drill.  The drill bit was 24” long from Harbor freight. I welded a 2 foot long 1/4” extension to the drill using a stainless welling rod. Stainless will grip cast iron and unknown alloys to mild steel with less heat than regular steel rods. Since the ramrod is steel, the pipes are only 1/4” inside.

I have begun to shape the for are to match the radius of the entry pipe and the stock is looking a little less like a plank. I will post again when it actually starts to look like a fowler.   CSW

[Longknife]

Looking good, keep it up and report back!,,,LK

[smart dog]

Hi Clint,
That will be a very nice fowler.  I don't think the French were much of an influence on the early troubles between English colonists and Native Americans.  The colonists tried to force their ways of life on the indians, including religion, and take as much land from them as as they could.  It was not the French until almost the 18th century.  The Native Americans also contributed to the unrest with their own political maneuvering and animosities between tribes.  Certainly firearms and powder were great bargaining chips.  Those early flintlocks were likely snaphaunces rather than dog locks, which came much later.  I think type 1 English locks (Godwin) and dog catch locks began showing up in the 1650s so by King Philip's War, most colonists and indians were armed with flintlocks of some sort.

dave

[Goo]

Sooooo..... According to the forensic evidence historically correct is actually guns put together from salvaged and mis matched parts, from different countries.  I wonder how the "experts" legitimize their opinions now?

[smart dog]

Hi Gustav,
No, not all colonial American guns were compiled from salvaged parts or from parts from varying sources.  Some were but not all by any means.  Moreover, the opinions of experienced collectors and firearms historians are not fatally compromised by composite firearms.  Those composite guns can be challenging to identify and verify their date and provenance but many can be so identified.  Particularly, with folks like Joe Puleo and Richard Colten (focusing on New England guns) who have studied and understand much of the context surrounding colonial gun making so they can identify the work from different regions and makers despite the complications of sourcing the basic materials. 

dave

[silky]

Clint,

Very cool project!  I hope you'll continue to post updates.  New England guns made from recycled parts have so much character and you can only imagine their stories.

I grew up right in that part of Connecticut you mentioned... so much history!

- Tom