Quality time with my Fowler!

[Arthur Roy]

I finally had a chance to get to see how my Fowler shot with round balls. I was very happy with the first load I tried. I was out of .600 and .610 balls so I grabbed some .575’s and some .02 thick patches and headed to the back 40. It was super easy to load and did about 8” for 12 shots at 60 yards. This was with my elbow rested on my truck bed. The first 3 shots were the worst, but once I got the hold right it shot really good. It was my first time shooting a smoothbore with no rear sight. My TC Renegade that is bored to .625 smooth shoots good too, but it uses the factory TC rear sight.

Another thing I was really happy with was that all shots loaded easy with no swabbing in between shots.

[StrawHat]

It shouldn’t be too hard to imitate a rear sight on that Fowler. A lump of something by the breech plug or a custom screw with a longer head for the tang screw.

Kevin

[LAGS]

I have a .75 cal Blunderbuss.
It has no sights at all.
But I was able to get 7 Quail in one day with it using bird shot.
The rifle shoots the lead balls pretty good even with out sights.
But if I do want accuracy, I better put on at least a front sight.
My .56 SB Renegade shot .535 balls with 6" groups at 50 yards.

[Arthur Roy]

I will probably not put any kind of rear sight on it. Just shoot it more to get better with it. My last 5 shots went into a 4” circle. So the more I shot it the better I got with it.

[waksupi]

Once you get used to a fowler, there is no need for a rear sight.

"So the more I shot it the better I got with it."

That is the key!

[Adam Helmer]

All my muzzleloader Fowlers have rear and front sights in order to be fair to the deer I hunt with them. My favorite is a .50 caliber Hawken flinter that puts roundball on point of aim at 75 yards. That is double my recurve bow range here on my PA farm.

Be well.

Adam

[Arthur Roy]

Now it’s time to start focusing on a load for spring turkey!

[Rockindaddy]

Its nice to see someone else likes a smooth bore. Have a Pedersoli Officers Fucille in .75 caliber. Soldered a front sight on and made a rear sight out of a chunk of brass and filed a shallow notch in it. Shot it from the bench with a patched .735 round ball at 50 yards. Kept filing the rear notch in the brass sight for windage. Filed the front sight down until I could hit a 3" bull. With a clean bore and a tight patch I could keep a 3" group! Good enough to bang Bambi for the PA flintlock season. Never found the ball that broke a big fat does shoulders that January. Built a 69 cal fowler from a kit. The kit had iron furniture. It was a trade gun. Didn't like the iron mountings so I ordered brass furniture from Track of The Wolf. The gun came out quite nice. Lock threw good fire and ignition was swift. Good enough to break clay pigeons thrown from my Olin-Winchester electric trap from the patio. Took it turkey hunting. Banged a fat gobbler too. Would like to try it out on a pheasant or two. Maybe burn a few feathers !!!!!Attachment 323040 My photos always load 90* out of kilter on this Boolit site! always have to crank your head 90* out to view any photos!!!!!

[Arthur Roy]

The flintlock Fowler is the only gun that can be used for every gun season here in PA. I have thought about campaigning it for a whole year and seeing how I did.

[Boerrancher]

You mentioned it loads easy, time after time with no swabbing. That is how it should be. Anything other than that and your load is too tight. Ric is 100% correct, practice, practice, practice. I can tell you from experience that if you stop shooting PRB’s through that Fowler even for 4-5 months once you have mastered it, it will take some time to get it back. I know that for a fact shooting a smooth bore without a rear sight is a very perishable skill. I was a great shooter with mine not world class but really good, and once I hung the old gun up for a bit and went back to rifles especially the smaller ones for small game, my smoothie skills went to hell in a hand basket. I can’t keep it together at 35 steps anymore.

Back in the day when I was shooting my trade gun a lot, a gallon milk jug at 75-80 yds didn’t stand a chance. It is all about practice and paying attention to loading it. Many a custom built target rifle at the local Rendezvous fell victim to the smooth bore. I always shot against the rifles because my trade gun shot well enough to do so. They told me I couldn’t shoot the rifle matches anymore and had to shoot in the smooth bore matches. When I found out it was because several of the guys with rifles that had been the top shooters, started complaining and said they wouldn’t shoot anymore. I quit the rendezvous and the matches. It took the wind out of my sails to find that people I thought were friends really weren’t. If I’m being honest, everything I learned to make me that good I learned right here from Ric either on this forum or in private messages. I often wondered if he got tired of all the questions. He never stopped answering them though and I did my best to take it all in, especially since I was shooting one of the guns he made.

[waksupi]

You mentioned it loads easy, time after time with no swabbing. That is how it should be. Anything other than that and your load is too tight. Ric is 100% correct, practice, practice, practice. I can tell you from experience that if you stop shooting PRB’s through that Fowler even for 4-5 months once you have mastered it, it will take some time to get it back. I know that for a fact shooting a smooth bore without a rear sight is a very perishable skill. I was a great shooter with mine not world class but really good, and once I hung the old gun up for a bit and went back to rifles especially the smaller ones for small game, my smoothie skills went to hell in a hand basket. I can’t keep it together at 35 steps anymore.

Back in the day when I was shooting my trade gun a lot, a gallon milk jug at 75-80 yds didn’t stand a chance. It is all about practice and paying attention to loading it. Many a custom built target rifle at the local Rendezvous fell victim to the smooth bore. I always shot against the rifles because my trade gun shot well enough to do so. They told me I couldn’t shoot the rifle matches anymore and had to shoot in the smooth bore matches. When I found out it was because several of the guys with rifles that had been the top shooters, started complaining and said they wouldn’t shoot anymore. I quit the rendezvous and the matches. It took the wind out of my sails to find that people I thought were friends really weren’t. If I’m being honest, everything I learned to make me that good I learned right here from Ric either on this forum or in private messages. I often wondered if he got tired of all the questions. He never stopped answering them though and I did my best to take it all in, especially since I was shooting one of the guns he made.

I still answer questions, if not too dumb!

When they won't let you shoot smooth bores against rifles, you already won!

[Rockingkj]

You mentioned it loads easy, time after time with no swabbing. That is how it should be. Anything other than that and your load is too tight. Ric is 100% correct, practice, practice, practice. I can tell you from experience that if you stop shooting PRB’s through that Fowler even for 4-5 months once you have mastered it, it will take some time to get it back. I know that for a fact shooting a smooth bore without a rear sight is a very perishable skill. I was a great shooter with mine not world class but really good, and once I hung the old gun up for a bit and went back to rifles especially the smaller ones for small game, my smoothie skills went to hell in a hand basket. I can’t keep it together at 35 steps anymore.

Back in the day when I was shooting my trade gun a lot, a gallon milk jug at 75-80 yds didn’t stand a chance. It is all about practice and paying attention to loading it. Many a custom built target rifle at the local Rendezvous fell victim to the smooth bore. I always shot against the rifles because my trade gun shot well enough to do so. They told me I couldn’t shoot the rifle matches anymore and had to shoot in the smooth bore matches. When I found out it was because several of the guys with rifles that had been the top shooters, started complaining and said they wouldn’t shoot anymore. I quit the rendezvous and the matches. It took the wind out of my sails to find that people I thought were friends really weren’t. If I’m being honest, everything I learned to make me that good I learned right here from Ric either on this forum or in private messages. I often wondered if he got tired of all the questions. He never stopped answering them though and I did my best to take it all in, especially since I was shooting one of the guns he made.

Boy that’s a chicken thing to say you had to shoot only in smooth bore matches! Any one that beats me is an incentive to get better. If I don’t shoot well enough it’s my fault not the person that did better regardless of what they we’re using. It ain’t the stick it’s how you swing it.

[broken-mold]

My TC Renegade that is bored to .625 smooth shoots good too

Did you bore the Renegade barrel yourself or have it done? Is it a 1" octagon or a roundy barrel? I have one that I considered smoothing. Course, it may be better to just buy a fowler or trade gun kit. But why do it the easy way when the hard way works almost as well and only costs a little more?

The last time I tried that several years ago the bore got all kattywhompassed and went sideways. It might have made a good one to shoot around corners with had I finished it. It was gonna be a .58 smoothy. I think I still have the extended drill and reamer but haven't tried it since.

[libertyman777]

Following. My son is thinking seriously about a Fowler

[Arthur Roy]

The Renegade was just a factory 50 cal. Flintlock. It has a 1” octagon barrel. I sent it out to a member here on the board and he bored it for me. Actually he has done 2 of them for me. I ended up giving my first one to my oldest son. Then gave the second to my youngest son and bought myself the Fowler.