Another fowler mystery!!

[eddillon]

I recently purchsed a fine 8 bore fowler from a fellow ALR forum member.  It was as advertised and I am pleased with my purchase from Doug.  The"head scratching" started as soon as I started looking into the origin of this 48" barreled monster.  The top flat of the octagon to round barrel is marked LONDON.  The bottom flat carries two Birminham proofs and is marked "TWISTED".  There are no other marks on the barrel. I wondered why there was no reference to the bore size typically found on British guns.  The answer?  It was cut off when the gun was converted to percussion.  The conversion is so well done that it was difficult to realize that it was originally a flint gun.  A section of the breech end of the barrel was cut off and replaced with a snail type percussion breech plug.  The bore size mark went with the piece of barrel that was lopped off.
The area of the lock plate that supported the flash pan was removed and ground to fit the snail breech plug.  Close examination of the lockplate revealed the holes for mounting the frizzen spring.  From the inside you can see the location of the screw that served as a pivot for the frizzen.  I tried to decipher the name on the lock without much success.  It looks very similar to the name on the other fowler being researched on this forum.  The lock engraving is very similar also.  The name on my fowler looks like "McMailin. http://www.neconos.com/alrfow.htm

[JV Puleo]

If it was a flintlock it didn't have a bore size marking ... that requirement didn't come in until 1855. What you have are the Birmingham proofs post-1813 and pre-1855. After that, the proof marks were the same but bore size was added to prevent makers from having a barrel proofed and finish reaming it afterward.

[eddillon]

Thanks, JV.  Appreciate your input.
Ed