My first smoothbore

I have been shooting flinter rifles for a few years now and I'd like to get a flinter smoothy for turkey hunting. What would y'all suggest? Thanks, Bruce.

Pedersoli Indian Trade Musket. Mine has been terrific. The only modification has been a Treso flash hole liner that was opened up to 1/16".

Sparkyspark said:

I have been shooting flinter rifles for a few years now and I'd like to get a flinter smoothy for turkey hunting. What would y'all suggest? Thanks, Bruce.

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There are lots of choices out there depending on your budget and preference of style.

Do you have one in mind? Choked or Cylinder bore?

Ml to flintlocks to smoothie is a journey many of us make.
You might think shot right off but soon enough you will want ball.
So I would vote against a choke.
Pedi’s trade gun is a good looking piece. It’s not fully historic but you need to be a nit picker to find the problems.
Brown Bess carbines are also great, if not fully historic.
Loyalist arms offer the Indian made fully shootable guns in cheaper range. They tend to be heavy and too shiny but you can fix that to a bit.
About the same cost you can get in to a kit by Track of the Wolf, pecotonic, sitting fox, Jedidiah Star Log Cabin sport shop ect.
North west gun or Fusil de chase will cost you a hundred hours or so of sweat equity and give you a great feeling of pride.
Sitting fox offers a poor boy kit and barn gun kit.... there is a German word for it I can’t spell, both at the easiest stage to put together in this style kit.
Personally I find the TFC more comfortable then the NWG or pedi trade gun style.

The word you seek is schimmel.

tenngun said:

Brown Bess carbines are also great, if not fully historic.
Loyalist arms offer the Indian made fully shootable guns in cheaper range. They tend to be heavy and too shiny but you can fix that to a bit.

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The shiny on the Loyalist Arms guns goes away pretty quickly. I like Loyalist's Light Infantry Fusil. They say it is 65 caliber (16 gauge), but often it comes in 62 or 20 gauge. Either gauge is a light and relatively handy about 8 1/2 pound gun.

Good buys occasionally show up in the classifieds or on trade blankets at rendezvous.

I do like the longer barrels on a fowler with 42" being about as short as I would like.

You do want a smoothbore that gives you a full view of the barrel when you naturally put it to your shoulder. Fowlers often naturally shoot low if all you see is the front sight bead. You need to see the barrel from the bead to the tang. These are heads up shooters both for shot and for ball.

NorthFork said:

The word you seek is schimmel.

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I’m mildly dyslexic and spelling is a big hump for me. Spell check helps a lot but it bites me in the hind end at times. Attempts to get schimmel came up with a no word found over and over

Not making fun, trying to help.

I'd say get the very best that you can afford, even if you have to do a bit of saving for it. Good advice posted above.

Im thinking about poor boy or barn gun style fowler. I sire would like a Tullie or Fussile (sp) but....$$$ probably arent there. I was hoping Kibler made some smoothie kits but apparently not.

Is a .62 or .65 a 20 guage?

62 is a 20 gauge
65 is a 16 gauge

Whatever you start looking at, don't settle for less than the best lock. A great lock can make for a lot of other shortcomings.

I think the poor boy or barn gun would be more affordable for now and in .62/20 ga. I wish Kibler would make some smoothie kits but i didn't see any if he did. I really like the looks of the Tullies but they are probably out of my budget for now.

Grenadier1758 said:

62 is a 20 gauge
65 is a 16 gauge

Whatever you start looking at, don't settle for less than the best lock. A great lock can make for a lot of other shortcomings.

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Which is the most common. 20 or 16. True on the locks. I have 2 flinter rifles and they both have the Chambers Siler lock.

20 would be the most common. 16 would be a lighter, better handling gun. You can load a 16 down to 20 gauge performance. Wads and other components for a 16 might not be found in your local gun store, but are readily available at the major on line suppliers. Well you can load a 20 gauge maximum load up to almost 16 gauge performance. The 20 gauge shot column will be longer and the shot may spread more.

Can components be made at home. ie wads cards etc?

Yes, the wads can be made at home. Arch punches, various wad cutters can be purchased. Dura-felt for wads. I've made cards from cereal boxes. I've taken sections of jute twine and shredded the strands into individual fibers to use as wads. Lots of options out there.

Yes, components can be homemade as well as the use of tow and or paper wadding. The list of possibilities is darn near endless. Spend and hour or 10 and look back through this forum for ideas on wads and cards. It's quite the rabbit hole to go down!

Yeah, you *definitely* want a smoothbore!
I've always been a Brown Bess man, myself, picking up 3 varieties over the years. And then I acquired a couple of percussion doubles, and for our 10th anniversary (21 this year), my Bride bought us a secondhand Dale Shinn matchlock, and I snagged one of Pedersoli's Mantons from a friend. And recently fell into a Pedersoli trade gun.
Okay, so it's not a hobby, it's an addiction...
Jay

[QUOTE="Grenadier1758,
I've taken sections of jute twine and shredded the strands into individual fibers to use as wads.

G’1758, Would you please explain how you use your strands of jute twine as wads, least someone just drop them down the barrel.
Thanks for sharing.

Jute Twine for wadding; I cut in small portions, dip in mixture of hot bees wax, olive oil and pine Rosen, Roll into a ball and let air dry. The pine Rosen makes the mixture a little more solid, like a hard chapstick.