Where to put the front sight on a fowler?

[nchunter]

I'm building my first gun (a fowler).  I was fortunate to be able to go to the CLA Show in Lexington last summer, and took lots of photos of fowlers, which has been very helpful to refer to during my build.

Pretty much all I have left to do is solder on the front sight.  Like any modern gun enthusiast, I just automatically assumed that I would locate the front sight near the very end of the barrel to maximize my sight radius. However, when I look at all the front sights of the original fowlers I photographed, I notice that while some put the sight up close to the end of the barrel, most locate the front sight several inches back.  Why would they do this?  At first I thought it was to make room for a bayonet - which is clearly the case on a couple of them - but most are clearly not made to fit a bayonet.  Is it to make it more comfortable to hold when ramming a ball in?  Does it give you a secondary elevation mark for long shots?

Here's some photos of the fowlers I'm talking about below:

 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I think it has more to do with grace, style, and  fashion, than practicality.  Having Grinslade's book on fowlers, I see that 42" is on the short end of these guns.  So sight radius is likely not an issue.

[Lucky R A]

          A muzzleloader with the sight set back a few inches from the muzzle just looks a lot nicer than one set right out to the end, which makes even a longer barrel look stubby.  I would suppose the second reason was to for comfort while loading the gun.   A sight set a little further back from the muzzle is also less susceptible to damage. 

[Burgess_rudy]

Remember a fowling piece is not meant to be aimed, but was generally used as a "Shotgun". That would explain the sights being set back or at any place. I saw and held an original 18th century fowling piece made for a youth. It had a front sight, (Don't remember where) but the rear had a silver inlay that filled in the very shallow carved out stock and looked like this -u- just behind the tang that was obviously used as an aide to sighting.

[Acer Saccharum]

It looks like several of those muzzles were cut back, so it's hard to gage by every original you see.

I like a front sight back far enough that I don't grasp it every time I load. not so important on a fowler, but a rifle with target sights that are sharp, you don't want to bring bandaids to the range everytime.

[alex e.]

Period French documents/contracts reguarding Fusils de Chasse state the front sight should be four inches from the muzzle.
A lot of New England  smoothbores were influenced by French ones.

Alex..

[Leatherbelly]

  Thanks for that info Alex. Thought I read it somewheres. I wonder if it also had to do with long range site picture.That, being able to see more muzzle(or barrel) past the sight and still see the top of the blade? The French turtle shaped base and blade have always been my favorite smoothie sight.