Author Topic: hunting with a fowler  (Read 6488 times)

Offline Brokennock

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #25 on: February 09, 2020, 12:59:05 PM »
Funny, I've had no issue using brown paper grocery bags, as long as I cut my paper so I only have one thickness to twist at the end to be twisted closed, and 2 layers around the shot. I have used newspaper, thinner brown bags like lunch bags and such,  the brown packaging paper sold at places like Staples, all have worked well once adjustment were made for sizing. Writing paper, no good. Tried "rubbing it soft," which can also help with some stiffer brown paper bags, still no good. I'd live to find some kind of cloth based paper like what money is printed on to try.

Offline bob in the woods

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2020, 04:27:46 PM »
I have used newspaper and the lighter weight brown paper bag paper , but should point out a couple things.
First, not all newspaper is the same.  I'm not sure if it has something to do with the use of re-cycled ingredients , but I can even see a difference when using it to start fires in the stove. Second, you need to take the "grain" of the paper in mind. ie it tears easily in one direction, but not the other. I prefer the grain to run horizontal to the length of the tube.
It makes it easier to tear off the end when loading., and the cup seems to work better.

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2020, 11:01:14 PM »
For when the fowler is used on large game.








Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline alacran

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #28 on: February 10, 2020, 04:13:02 PM »
Daryl I like that setup. I've never carried that many shots while hunting though. Except for squirrel hunting.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline WadePatton

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #29 on: February 10, 2020, 10:42:59 PM »
Funny, I've had no issue using brown paper grocery bags ... I'd live [sic] to find some kind of cloth based paper like what money is printed on to try.

Just call up the treasury dept--get some of those throw away bills.  You have to promise not to spend them!  ;D ;D ;D

But seriously, I don't know if it's yet made, but BITD when I was messing with fountain pens and fancy paper there was no shortage of 100% cotton-bond paper at any office supplies store (before internet this was).  I'll bet hemp paper is available too. Of course not many letters are being hand or type-written these days, I'd expect some sort of fancy papers market to have survived.

On paper sacks I've noticed quite a difference in the recycled bags in durability as to the "virgin products" stuff. 
Hold to the Wind

Offline LynnC

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #30 on: February 10, 2020, 11:23:03 PM »
Daryl,

I seem to remember you wrote up a tutorial on making those cartridges. Id like to make some up to try in a 20 bore I made. Maybe I can find it........Lynn
The price of eggs got so darn high, I bought chickens......

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #31 on: February 11, 2020, 01:35:00 AM »
Lynn- you have a PM.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline LynnC

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #32 on: February 11, 2020, 06:51:31 AM »
Thank you!
The price of eggs got so darn high, I bought chickens......

Offline Pukka Bundook

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #33 on: February 11, 2020, 06:01:42 PM »
Daryl,

a set-up very similar to yours can be seen from the 1500's, but it their case, the paper cartridge was tied to the spru of the ball, but sat in an identical little pouch, either one row or two -row, made of wood and covered with leather.
I have one the same for my matchlock.  V handy rig!

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #34 on: February 11, 2020, 10:29:22 PM »
Yes- a very handy way to carry paper ctgs. (yeah- the snap isn't quite PC, I assume)
I altered this ctg. container for the Bess' paper ctgs. When I used them in the .69 rifle
for moose hunting, I simply carried 1/2 dozen in a pocket of my parka with a disk capper in the
breast pocket on a cord through the button hole. No bag, no horn.






« Last Edit: February 11, 2020, 10:34:30 PM by Daryl »
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline bob in the woods

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #35 on: February 15, 2020, 03:26:42 AM »
I'm a big fan of using paper cartridges, and they are my standard when shooting ball in my smoothbores, as well as when hunting with my rifle. A big improvement over the original designs was changing to a tapered cartridge.  I got this idea from Daryl and it speeds up and makes the loading procedure easier. Tear off the end of the taper, insert the cartridge in the muzzle and the powder drains down the bore while I'm drawing the ramrod. Then it's just a matter of pushing the rest down the barrel. Out of all the combinations I've tried in my smoothbore; it does it's best with the paper cartridge.

Offline LynnC

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #36 on: February 15, 2020, 05:28:14 AM »
Im curious. What happens to the paper wrapped ball as it leaves the muzzle?  Does it continue on to the target wrapped and tied or is the paper stripped away at the muzzle?

Stripped i would think but???
« Last Edit: February 15, 2020, 05:40:20 AM by LynnC »
The price of eggs got so darn high, I bought chickens......

Offline bob in the woods

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #37 on: February 15, 2020, 07:43:33 AM »
Interesting question.   I was practicing at 35 yards, and all of the shots were nice and round in the paper , but a few years ago I shot a black bear at about 10 feet, and since I was sitting on a rock, the shot was downward. The ball went right through the bear diagonally, and the ball with some wadding paper burrowed into the ground....smoking !   I dug it out and kept it. The ball was clean . ie no paper. The paper may have been scrubbed off the ball going through the bear, but it's interesting that the body of the cartridge behind it[ wadding] went through the bear too  :)

Offline LynnC

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #38 on: February 15, 2020, 06:07:58 PM »
Interesting story Bob. Really interesting
The price of eggs got so darn high, I bought chickens......

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #39 on: February 16, 2020, 03:22:15 AM »
In my 14 bore rifle, using the paper ctgs. I got identical accuracy at 50 and 100 meters, as with patched ball using the identical 165gr. 2F load of GOEX.
I'm pretty sure there was no paper following the ball as confetti used to rain after a shot. There was never any ignition of the paper. This was with
pure lead as well as with WW alloyed balls.
I think Dan & Roger B. did as well.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline bob in the woods

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #40 on: February 16, 2020, 04:38:24 PM »
Daryl, the secret to having the paper wadding go through the bear is to be close.  Real close !
The reason that the wad was smoking , buried in the forest floor, I think can be attributed to my dipping the ball end of the cartridges in a bear oil/ beeswax mix.  I stopped doing that recently, no longer believing it necessary. The cartridges remain clean now, and a soaking patch after 10 or so shots cleans the barrel sufficiently for another 10+ rounds.
The non lubed cartridges are easier to carry in my pocket when hunting.

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #41 on: February 16, 2020, 08:50:31 PM »
Tks Bob - I always wondered if lubing the paper ctg. would help. I-too shoot 10, then I shoot a single shot with 82gr. (3drams) of 2F
and a dripping wet denim patch. That one effectively cleans the bore and allows another 10 ctgs. to be fired with perfect accuracy.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline LynnC

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #42 on: February 16, 2020, 09:14:51 PM »
And I just lubed the ball end of the cartridges I made right before i read this 😄 Well they look good anyway
The price of eggs got so darn high, I bought chickens......

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #43 on: February 17, 2020, 11:30:10 PM »
The proof whether something works or not, is always in the shooting. Not all guns are alike, well, mostly not alike,
even if the barrels came off the production line one after the other.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline LynnC

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #44 on: February 18, 2020, 02:01:06 AM »
 I had a break this afternoon and took a few cartridges out back to try. I made them per the drawing Daryl posted. 75 grains 2F under a 310 grain ball then lube the ball end. They shot better than patched balls in my 20 gage smoothbore. 2 5/8” at 35 yds.  I need more practice.  When I get time I will move out to 50 then maybe a bit farther.

The more cartridges I make the better they turned out. Very convenient and easy loading.
The price of eggs got so darn high, I bought chickens......

Offline Daryl

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Re: hunting with a fowler
« Reply #45 on: February 18, 2020, 10:41:11 PM »
Glad it's working for you, Lynn. Looks as if I need to try them in my 20 bore. :)
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V