How long of barrel?

[Old Ford2]

Wishing to build my first and only fowler.
The barrel comming is a 12 ga. 44", the gun will be for upland game, my waterfowl days are gone.
But I would like an easy cary bird gun, and perhaps deer.
My only introduction to smooth bores are modern cartridge guns.
So in my mind, a scatter gun is 30" or less.
I will be buildin with guidance from the book " Flintlock Fowlers " by Mr. Tom Grinslade.
In particular, I do like the fowler on pg. 224. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Best regards
Old Ford

[keweenaw]

With a fowler 30" would be very short.  Even in a full stock the gun will be very light and a longer barrel will be an aid in keeping you swing going.  After all shooting with a flint fowler requires  a sustained lead, not the typical catchup and shot technique most of us use with cartridge guns.  In my mind 44" would be about right if you like a short gun, the one I'm building is 52"

Tom

[Kermit]

How do you hunt? Use a dog? Spaniel or setter/pointer? Answers to these would make a difference for me. My favorite grouse gun for E. Washington hills is my .50 x 46" smoothrifle. I'm building a 12ga underhammer w/ 32" bbl to hunt pheasants with a friend who shoots a Remington 1100. We hunt roosters over his English setter.

[northmn]

Get one of each the one has a 30 inch barrel and the other a 42.  Actually were I to pick one I would go the 42 inch barrel in a 12 bore.  For me a 16 would be ideal but I have "stuff", like ball molds for a 12 and 20.  One very big consideration is your hunting vehicle and local laws.  The 30 inch barreled gun is much hanider to carry in a car or truck by the front seat to unwind for opportunity shots.  Also I like it better for my tractor or 4 wheeler when I put up wood in the fall.  Since its kind of a "beater" its handy for that purpose over a nicer gun.  I do enjoy the longer barrled one and will not argue the merits of swing, but the grouse tend to get up in some pretty heavy stuff where I live and you do not eat a lot of grouse shooting a flintlock. 

DP

[James Rogers]

Coming at this with a little historical research of original pieces designed for shooting on the wing (since you seem to mainly be concerned with bird hunting) and from a competition standpoint of modern sporting I would say that 44" is on the up side of the scale but certainly not out of the park. Most I have seen that I am sure are uncut and are intended for birding pieces range in the 37-42" range for the majority. The longer barreled guns seem to have been more for waterfowling and other specialized shooting but not rough shooting in upland style.
With the advent of the double being popular in England and other innovations, barrels got shorter. Some of the older long fowling pieces were cut back as well.

I do not believe the gun you reference in Grinslade's was ever intended for any kind of wingshooting but a 44" barrel would be ok for that style in my opinion. A different stock style would be more user friendly.


JMHO  

[Dan'l 1946]

    I have a 20 bore fowler with a 42" barrel and a 10 bore with a 48" barrel and I  use both for uplands gunning. The twenty weighs about  7 pounds and the ten is almost a pound heavier. Both carry easily due to the fine balance a good fowler has and are great for wing shooting.
    It's less about barrel length and more about balance, I think. And a long fowler is just such an elegant thing compared to a short barreled one  though this is  matter of taste I suppose. The long barrel seems to throw tighter patterns in my experience--for what that is worth.
                                                                 Dan

[James Rogers]

   
    It's less about barrel length and more about balance, I think.

Yep. Keep it between the hands. A nice big breech helps this much!

[Old Ford2]

Thank you for input!
Best regards

Old Ford