10 guage fowler..yea or nay?

[mark davidson]

OK, I think I have found a way to afford a fowler. I gotta let my builder know this evening if it is to be 12 guage or 10 guage. I need your opinions. It will be a serious hunting shotgun for turkey and ducks and maybe some squirrel and rabbit shooting. Availability of components may be an issue with the 10 guage??? Is the 10 in a black powder gun really superior or that much more potent than the 12 or can I heat up the 12 to do about anything a 10 will do??  Opinions needed quick. Thanks in advance!!!

[Bigsmoke]

Powder is powder, shot is shot - only difference is quantities required.
As far as the other components, I think both Circle Fly and Ox Yoke both make wads for 10 ga, 11 ga, 12 ga and 13 ga.
Caps is caps and flints are flints.
There you go.  Rock and roll.
Never shot a 10 gauge that I can recall, so no help here on that.

[jbullard1]

This is just my opinion,
I already have 2 12's so I'd go with the 10 and at least a 36" barrel

But the 12 will be good for turkey and geese as well
Like Bigsmoke says the wads are available and you can always make your own

[Gambia]

Mark.

Is it a flinter or percussion ?
Feltwad

A Flint Lock will not secure a chicken house door

[russ t frizzen]

I have a 10 bore flint fowler coming soon. It has a 48" barrel and a cherrywood stock. I figure anything a 12 gauge will do, a 10 will do a bit better. Finding components is not a problem and the gun weighs no more than a 12 gauge would.

[mark davidson]

I think I will go with a 12 since it is my first bp shotgun.  I am finding that a 10 guage barrel is a bit more difficult to find. If the 12 is at least 90% as much gun and as much effective as a 10 then the 12 will do just fine. However, if the 10 is much more effective on big birds like turkeys or ducks, or if the 10 will handle significantly more shot then maybe I should take the extra time to find me a 10 bore barrel. I think I will go flinter on this rig. Any suggestions as to flint versus percussion on a fowler. I have adapted pretty well to the flintlock deer rifle I have but I have no problem with the fowler being percussion either. Ideas?

[R.M.]

My thinking is, the 12g is like a 50 cal, and the 10g is like a .54. The smaller one is more popular, but the larger one will do the job just a bit better.
Either way, you can't go wrong.

[russ t frizzen]

I think I will go with a 12 since it is my first bp shotgun.  I am finding that a 10 guage barrel is a bit more difficult to find. If the 12 is at least 90% as much gun and as much effective as a 10 then the 12 will do just fine. However, if the 10 is much more effective on big birds like turkeys or ducks, or if the 10 will handle significantly more shot then maybe I should take the extra time to find me a 10 bore barrel. I think I will go flinter on this rig. Any suggestions as to flint versus percussion on a fowler. I have adapted pretty well to the flintlock deer rifle I have but I have no problem with the fowler being percussion either. Ideas?

Tell the builder that you want a 10 bore and he will get the barrel for  you.  That's about all there is to it. When we were discussing my fowler, that was the first thing that was decided and it wasn't a problem.

[Kermit]

Components are not a problem--assuming you aren't looking for 'em at the local sporting goods joint.

Me? I'd go 10. No particular reason.

Russ T: You gotta tell us more!!!

[Double Barrel]

Here's another vote for the 10 bore.  Especially if you're going to be shooting ducks out of the sky.  You only have one shot.  You'll definitely want to send as much shot as you can to that duck with that one shot!

[Gordon H.Kemp]

I don't think you'll find the 10 ga. to be all that better than the 12ga. As far as turkeys go the 12ga. will do a fine job. If you intend to use the gun for waterfowl most of the time, the ten will give you a little advntage by putting more shot in the string.

[russ t frizzen]

The 10 bore puts more shot in a shorter string--no matter what you're shooting at. That means more shot arrives at the target at the same time giving a denser pattern. The longer barrel gives a tighter pattern too. The old timers didn't over stuff their fowlers with shot to create a "magnum" out of them. They used a bigger bore to start with and loaded down for smaller game. These long barreled fowlers can be surprisingly light too. We anticipate that mine will  weigh about 8 pounds. Another consideration was that the fowler could be used as a militia weapon if I decide to re-enact the F&I period or even a bit earlier. The cherry stock is to give a bit of New England flavor.

[Gambia]

I shoot both the s/b and d/b percussion fowlers in 10 and 12 gauge.These are originals and I find that with a 10 with a 36 to 40 inch barrels kills better and further than a 12.
Feltwad

A Flint Lock will not secure a chicken house door

[russ t frizzen]

Me too. I think we're sort of at the same place with smoothbores that we were at with rifles years ago, when the .45 was considered the best caliber to have. Then folks started going with heavier calibers and suddenly the choices expanded. Today, and for sometime now, the 20 bore has been the "standard". There's not a thing wrong with the twenty, but as the size of the game goes up it makes sense to throw more shot at it and to do so with a "square" load--one that doesn't string out but stays together. Some feel that the bigger bores don't shoot ball loads as well but there's no reason why they can't if time is taken to work up a load. And a 10 or 12 bore ball delivers a lot more energy to the target. The old muskets would have been much more accurate had the military valued accuracy over rapid fire and used a patched ball instead of a loose fitting ball that went where it pleased.  If a load is worked up in a Brown Bess today with a well fitted patch and ball, it will shoot as well as any other smoothbore of smaller bore and hit harder.

[Capt. Jas.]

10 bore for your needs. You can load down for smaller game. Less shot on the barrel walls than trying to "magnumize" a lesser bore.