Need help identifying this musket

[Krissi]

Hello everyone,
  I’m looking for help identifying a smoothbore muzzleloader that my dad has owned forever. It looks like it’s at least  .70-.75 caliber, no rifling, and no maker’s marks except for the shell pattern that closes over the compartment that the percussion caps are stored in. And that’s my problem. It doesn’t look like a homemade musket, but I can’t figure out any way to identify it. Any ideas would be helpful!

[JV Puleo]

It's not a musket...it's an inexpensive, probably Belgian-made, fowler of the latter half of the 18th century...I'd guess somewhere between 1850 and 1870. These cheap muzzleloaders continued to be sold well after the advent of fixed shotgun ammunition simply because they were inexpensive to buy and cheap to shoot.

[Krissi]

That’s incredibly helpful, thank you! And it’s not a musket even though it has no rifling? Oh, and one more stupid question since you seem to know what you’re talking about. Why would a Fowler be a .70 caliber? That seems excessive.

[Avlrc]

Your fowler was made for shot, not for bullets or one large solid ball. It was mainly used for waterfowl and upland birds, as well as other small game that a modern hunter may use a shotgun for.  The modern 12-gauge is a tad larger than 70 caliber.  I believe the term "musket" is typically used to describe military-style arms.

[rich pierce]

Your fowler was made for shot, not for bullets or one large solid ball. It was mainly used for waterfowl and upland birds, as well as other small game that a modern hunter may use a shotgun for.  The modern 12-gauge is a tad larger than 70 caliber.  I believe the term "musket" is typically used to describe military-style arms.

Exactly. Think 12 ga single shot shotgun of the time.

[Hungry Horse]

 This gun looks like what was commonly called a monkey gun, and sold to the natives in South America, and Africa. They were made in a variety of gauges, and in single barrel, and double barrel. I own a 20 gauge double with the exact same cap box on the butt stock. Dixies Gun Works sold mine in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

Hungry Horse