fowler

[omark]

would 20" barrels be appropriate for a flint double fowler??            i know it could be done but is it H/C??   thanks in advance,  mark.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

for the last qtr of the 19th century??  I honestly don't know if there were any/many made like that during the flint period, but people kept making flint guns even after the caplock and suppository guns were prevalent...

[Longknife]

Appropiate for WHO??? Flint fowlers were usually made longer because at that time it was common belief that a longer barrel would shoot farther for shooting birds on the wing.  I do like the looks of a LONG barreled fowler....We now know that shot barrels as short as 20 inches will shoot just as tight and far as longer barrels (if loaded properly). There were many REAL short smooth guns made (blunderbusses) that were primaratily used for short range personal protection. They usualy had a belled muzzle which was supposed to spread the shot, (it didn't) and some were even made as SXS's. In 1800 if a gunsmith had a customer that wanted a "personal protection" SXS smoothbore with  20 inch barrels to carry in his coach, under his cloak or under his bed,  he would probably make it for him and if that person could take a grouse, pheasant or squirrel with it , more power to him!!! ....OR.... If his long barreled fowler "burst" at the muzzle, would he have it cut off and continue to use it???...probably.... This happened often....in other words, if it makes you happy!!!! DO IT!!!

[Acer Saccharum]

20" would be good for a coach gun, or big birds in very tight quarters.
I don't believe I've seen such a short fowler.

Tom

[Dave K]

For hunting fowler, I agree that would be short. I have seen SxS flinter in as long as 46" barrels and as short as 26" barrels. As a matter of opinion, unless it is a small bore under 20ga. anything less than 28" looks pretty stubby, unless the builder is real good at keeping the locks in nice and tight together. JMHO What gauge are you wanting in this gun and what purpose would it be used for?

[omark]

thanks all for the replys, do appreciate it. dave, i was looking at a set of 20 ga barrels to keep the outside dimensions smaller and i think a 20 would do anything i want. the set i was looking at is a set 20" modern. so after cutting them back at the breech to plug them, they would be shorter thab that. guess ill probably wait for a longer set.  thanks again all,  mark

[Dave K]

Yes, they are out there, but not everyday. The breech area when using breech loader barrels, means you are probably going to lose about 3", because the barrels flare out at the breech to make room for the shotgun shells. I have seen a set of barrels where the builder made extensions in this area and of course made them slender. IMHO, it looked great and no loss of barrel length, but it certainly would take more work to do it. Are they strong enough to do this? I am not an engineer to judge that.

[northmn]

I built a fowler using a Nock style breech out of a cartridge barrel.  I cut off about an inch of breech and used a long breech plug drilled out to be able to set the lock back.  I have to use a minimum of 50 grains of powder to fill the breech but as it is a 12 bore that is not an issue.  While they are a little tougher to clean they do work.

DP