first use of term 'shotgun'?

[Mike R]

We tend to speak/write of 'fowlers', 'smoothbores', fusils, etc. for 18th cent guns.  I just read a transcription of a lawsuit from Arkansas Post , 1812, that referred to a "gun commonly called a shotgun".  If the term was 'common' in 1812, when was it first in widespread use? Anyone know? 

[northmn]

Interesting and as I have no idea really would like to know also.  Fowlers, muskets and fusils were different guns in use, but all could use shot.  Shotgun a generic term?

DP

[James Rogers]

1782 Buckingham co. VA

Inventory list of Jeremiah Whitney includes 1 shot gun

[Mike Brooks]

1782 Buckingham co. VA

Inventory list of Jeremiah Whitney includes 1 shot gun

OK, what is a shotgun?

[Mike R]

1782 Buckingham co. VA

Inventory list of Jeremiah Whitney includes 1 shot gun

Thanks!  Is that the earliest?

[James Rogers]

1782 Buckingham co. VA

Inventory list of Jeremiah Whitney includes 1 shot gun

OK, what is a shotgun?

We all would like to know 

[James Rogers]

1782 Buckingham co. VA

Inventory list of Jeremiah Whitney includes 1 shot gun

Thanks!  Is that the earliest?

Just the earliest I have seen so far.

[Mike R]

I will venture a definition for 'shotgun':  A long gun designed specifically to shoot multiple shot [such as birdshot; as opposed to a single rd ball]. This would include most old style fowling guns but exclude military muskets, for example. By the late 18th cent the British among others had perfected the shotgun and the double-barrel shotgun. Such things as early fusils de chasse and trade guns are shady areas where both shot and single ball loads were common [archeology and old shipping lists show large volumes of both 'shot' [various sizes] and rd ball being sent and used in trade guns, etc. in the colonies.  Clearly any smoothbore can fire shot [so can a rifle, but not as successfully]. But such things as smoothrifles are clearly designed for double duty. Military muskets were often used with buckshot.  But to me at least a shotgun is a gun designed for small game and bird hunting.  That led to lighter, better balanced, better 'fit' [to the shooter] shotguns as opposed to many early 'fowlers', etc...

[flintriflesmith]

Although both of there 19th century references are later and don't deal directly with the question, I though y'all might see how some folks in America felt about shotguns.

From The Oxford English Dictionary:

1828 J. HALL Letters from the West page 86 "Luck's like a shot-gun, mighty uncertain." [Published in 1828 but written in 1820 on a journey down the Ohio.]

1835 W. IRVING Tour Prairies xi. page 86 "The lads of the West holding ‘shot-guns’, as they call them, in great contempt, thinking..the rifle the only fire-arm worthy of a hunter."
I think both of these quotes shed light on who bought rifles and why!
Gary

[Mike R]

1835 W. IRVING Tour Prairies xi. page 86 "The lads of the West holding ‘shot-guns’, as they call them, in great contempt, thinking..the rifle the only fire-arm worthy of a hunter."
I think both of these quotes shed light on who bought rifles and why!


...and also: Schoolcraft in his exploration of the Ozarks ca. 18teens carried a shotgun and was chided by locals, even a backwoods woman he encountered, for carrying it--they also thought a rifle the best weapon to have.

[dannybb55]

Here on the coastal plain fowlers and shotguns have always been favored. Deer are run with "deer dogs" which are English descended animals which run the deer towards a stand. The brush and forest are so dense that 30 yards is a good shot. the other 94 counties in NC use rifles and always have. The current shotgun is sometimes a semiauto with a rifled 12 bore barrel and a scope, for those close shots.

[msmith]

The contempt toward a shotgun still exist in some mountain areas of the Virginias. When squirrel hunting was still a big deal in our area, you were thought poorly of if you pursued them with a scatter gun. The only time it was forgiven if you were a old man with poor eyesight. However it was acceptable to shoot a deer with a slug. Another thing I remember about the old timers , if they were showing their guns, their rifles were the only ones that they showed you. If you noticed a gun in the corner and ask about, they may some remark like" that it is just an old scatter gun. There was not much pride in your shotgun in these parts even up until few years ago.

[James Rogers]

The contempt toward a shotgun still exist in some mountain areas of the Virginias. When squirrel hunting was still a big deal in our area, you were thought poorly of if you pursued them with a scatter gun. The only time it was forgiven if you were a old man with poor eyesight. However it was acceptable to shoot a deer with a slug. Another thing I remember about the old timers , if they were showing their guns, their rifles were the only ones that they showed you. If you noticed a gun in the corner and ask about, they may some remark like" that it is just an old scatter gun. There was not much pride in your shotgun in these parts even up until few years ago.

I think that holds true except for the sporting gentlemen.  A fowling piece was for the sport of shooting flying and much pride was and still is taken in those circles. The lower classes generally did not participate in such recreation and were more skilled with a rifle so the "ole scattergun" was not sporting in their mind because their association with it was taking unskilled pot shots at sitting game.  As far as solid projectiles, the rifle had it hands down.

[Mike R]

The contempt toward a shotgun still exist in some mountain areas of the Virginias. When squirrel hunting was still a big deal in our area, you were thought poorly of if you pursued them with a scatter gun. The only time it was forgiven if you were a old man with poor eyesight. However it was acceptable to shoot a deer with a slug. Another thing I remember about the old timers , if they were showing their guns, their rifles were the only ones that they showed you. If you noticed a gun in the corner and ask about, they may some remark like" that it is just an old scatter gun. There was not much pride in your shotgun in these parts even up until few years ago.

I think that holds true except for the sporting gentlemen.  A fowling piece was for the sport of shooting flying and much pride was and still is taken in those circles. The lower classes generally did not participate in such recreation and were more skilled with a rifle so the "ole scattergun" was not sporting in their mind because their association with it was taking unskilled pot shots at sitting game.  As far as solid projectiles, the rifle had it hands down.

I agree, the shotgun/fowling gun is the best choice for shooting flushed or passing birds, and that is where it shines.  A culture grew up around the bird shooting fraternity that still exists.  In my youth it had become a common man's sport but now in many areas has returned to being the sport of the wealthier classes [in the earlier 20th cent hunting lands were free and birds abundant; now around here at least you need to go to private reserves to hunt quail, for example]. The common man of early days found that the shotgun was an efficient way of getting food for the table when $$ was hard to get and used the gun for other game such as rabbits and even deer. My grandpa, raised in the 1890-1910 Ozarks, was a shotgunner for birds, but used only a .22 for squirrels--a throw-back to the squirrel rifle days of his father. I was raised to think a shotgun unsporting for squirrels, but my dad used one for gamebirds and rabbits--moving targets. I still treasure my double guns and occasionaly even get to use them. There were few deer or bear left in the hills my grandpa lived in by the early 1900s, so the deer rifle had almost died out [they are back now in force!].

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

A little info about the Classy Dove hunting  down here.  Opening day hunts are fine affairs with crystal and only the best whiskey at the end of the day....... The really good ones require a personal invitation to someones  plantation/estate/farm!!  They use shotguns.... this year i hope to use my flintlock fowling piece!!

http://www.gundogsonline.com/Article/southern-dove-hunting-Page3.htm

[msmith]

Wikipedia, says the first recorded use of the term "shotgun" was in Kentucky 1776....I will be surprised if it is not found earlier..." Not that I would ever own one of course" (just kidding)

[Dan'l 1946]

[/quote]
 OK, what is a shotgun?
[/quote]

Mike, around my neck of the woods, a shot gun is a gun that is completely worn out or "shot". Our smooth bores are called fowlers, birding pieces, fusils, fusees, muskets and such.

The term "shotgun" was probably first used when the first hand gonne wore out and its  owner (Herkimer von Schnotte) yelled out: "my gonne she is shot!" The term quickly was corrupted into shot gun and the rest is history.  I hope this has been both informative and helpful.
                                                   Dan