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colonial fowler barrel lengths

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texcl

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I was looking through grinslades fowler book looking at the barrel lengths and it occured to me that the average length was over 50"s more like 53" so how did we end up having 42" barrels on most of the fowler kits? Even my chambers fowler which has a 46" barrel it short by historical examples. About the only examples that were under 45" with any regularity are the kentucky fowlers.
 
For whatever reason, barrels became "standardized" at 42" many long years ago...probably with Green Mountain barrels. Barrel makers have been loathe to change from that too much. If you look, you can find some at 46" or 44", but very hard to find any longer than that without having one custom made.

To a great extent, this is due to the limitations of their machinery. Generally, they can't go longer than 48"
 
I think to some extent the 42" barrel is "what the market will bear," so to speak. Most folks started shooting with modern cartridge rifles and a long barrel there is 24" or maybe 26". It's hard to convince people that longer muzzleloader barrels that are well made and swamped or tapered can be light and responsive and a pleasure to shoot and hunt with. Many people just won't buy longer barrels I think.

I got into muzzleloaders and flintlocks over 25 years ago because of PA's flintlock deer season and I was like most folks--I wanted relatively short barrels and thought I wanted something close in length and size to the bolt action .30/06 I had. I started with a T/C Renegade and went through a few different rifles over the years until I wound up with a couple "long rifles" that had 38" and 37" barrels.

Just over the last couple years I have gotten into shooting flintlocks more than ever and have realized what a joy nice long barrels are. Hell, I can focus my 50 year old eyes on a front sight that is almost 4' away--anything closer is too blurry. :rotf: Now my main deer rifle has a 44" Colerain octagon to round .54 barrel and I have a 46" 16 gauge smooth bore barrel in the basement that is going to be my next project. I'd have bought a longer 16 barrel if it was available without going the custom route and having to wait forever.
 
Good point ccg. How many people on this very site, have discussed using a shorter barrel than was the usual norm for a long rifle. Like you, if they were to go with the longer barrel they would find it does seem to fit.It gets when I look at the original fowlers, I look at my 44" barreled fowler and it seems short.
 
Challenging to find stock blanks that accomodate longer than a 44" barrel easily also. I think we're slowly, over the decades, accumulating enough accurate information about originals to create demand for parts to make styles that were of little interest 30 years ago.
 
..."create demand for parts to make styles that were of little interest 30 years ago."

Bingo! If it won't sell then no one will make it. Over time the demand might/will change. It will be more epensive. As long as so many insist on buying the inexpensive guns from ***** it won't happen any time soon.
 
I believe you're all wrong ...

42" barrels came to be with the restriction of standard shipping charges for UPS and other shippers. Check it out for yourself ... 42" barrel, standard charges ... > 42" barrel, and an extra premium is charged.

I've bought 2 barrels > 42" and both sources advised me of this when I went to order them, so much so that when advised that extra shipping charges would be lodged, they both offered me the option to get a 42" barrel to keep shipping 'reasonable'.

Two places have told me this and the charges do apply ... so I think this possible the reason nowadays.
 
Long barrels are available - on special order. Guys like Mike Brooks and (no relation) Jack Brooks and others use them all the time.

Your statement about 42" for shipping purposes doesn't calculate. Over size doesn't occur until you reach the magic 60" number. Consider this: a long gun with a 42" barrel and a standard LOP of 14" will be 58" (plus/minus) OAL and can be fitted in a 59" box. I do this all the time. My barrel maker doesn't care a whit about length when shipping me barrels, only the weight which I pay so no sweat for him. I get as many as 12 in each package and they are heavy. The poor FedEx guy grunts when bringing them into the shop.

The bottom line is supply and demand. If there is enough demand then someone will find a way to supply it. It was mentioned that the capacity of the machinery used to produce them is a limiting factor and that is somewhat correct too. If enough people demand 50" barrels it would change the whole industry. Blanks and the machinery to produce them would have to be modified or re engineered. As it is right now there isn't enough demand to justify the cost to retool. For instance if I retooled and forced my suppliers to retool I would have to produce X amount of product just to recoup the costs and so would the supplier which means a severe jump in retail prices. When the market grows then that will happen, not 'till then.

These are the espostulations and opinions of a poor musket maker trying to make a living peddling guns and parts. :rotf: :surrender:
 
Alll the reasons given have some validity.

Its definitely hard to find barrel making machines with beds long enough to turn out 60 inch barrels. Most come with a 48" bed, and when you deduct the length of the tail stock carriage, a 42" barrel is as long as they can make.

Stocks for longer length barrels cost a premium, if you can find them at all. Again, part of the problem comes from the available equipment for turning these long stocks out in a " pre-carve format for hobby builders.

Gun cases for these long barreled guns are also more expensive, and harder to find.

Shipping costs are going to be higher on the longer barreled guns, as mentioned.

Its even more difficult to transport these guns in a truck or car when the barrels get so long, as they simply won't fit across the width of most cars, or trucks. Even in vans, the room needed to transport these long barrels uses up space that otherwise could be used to transport other items.

Years ago, 2 friends of mine went deer hunting in Southern Illinois, driving down in one man's Jeep. The guns used did not have barrels longer than 42" but the guns were both flintlocks, and had to be placed on the floor of the jeep running lengthwise between the two bucket seats, on out to the back tail gate. All the rest of their gear was piled on top of the guns, after sleeping bags, and pads were used to pad and protect the guns from the weight of tents, cooking gear, poles, etc. On the way home, they stopped at a rest stop where the IL. Dept. of Conservation Police were doing checks of all cars of hunters. The officers wanted to check the guns of all the hunters. My friends had to unload the entire Jeep to get to the guns, of course, and when the officer saw that the guns were flintlocks, he didn't want to have anything more to do with them. It took the guys more than an hour to repack that jeep and continue on their way home.

Both men commented on the fact that if the guns they took were shorter, they could have packed them on the top of their gear, where they would have been easily available to show the officers.

Oh, check the height of your gun safe to see just how long a barrel you can fit into the safe. Most will not take even a 42" barrel.

My point is that everything about owning a longer barreled gun involves greater expense. Most people still think we are crazy to hunt with a gun that has a barrel longer than 30 inches as it is. There is no question that owning and using a barrel that is 46-60 inches long is going to involve a lot more expense. That is why you see no commercial manufactured with these lengths of barrels. There simply is not much of a market for these guns, yet. Thankfully, we have custom builders like our own Mike Brooks, who make these long-barreled fowlers, and keep the idea a present reality that is no longer confined to museum collections, and pictures in books.

Grinslade's book is no doubt responsible for a lot of Flintlock shooters showing an interest in owning and shooting a long barreled Fowler, just as you are showing interest, now. Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
I wish they would put out a couple fowler kits with 50+ barrels. I have thought about getting a pre-carve and splicing 10" or so onto it so it would accept a long barrel, I'm not up to building from a blank. I also wish they would make more fowler kits with round barrels. One of these days I'm going to work up to making my own log fowler, now that I have looked at a good number of orginals none of the kits and pre-carves look right to me. I imagine there isn't enough demand for someone to put a kit together for under a grand.
 
They are eye-catching, those long barrels. While I don't care that much for truly short barrels, all mine fall between 36" and 42". And this is for all the reasons listed above. If I have to use a step stool to load or have to walk for ten minutes to get to the muzzle when I lean it over for a reload, it's too long. They have to fit in my truck and not knock over furniture when I handle them inside the house. I'm sure there had to be at least a few who felt the need for something less than head high.
 
I'm told that Ben Coogle can make you a barrel pretty much as long as you want. :wink:
 
Well, I'll be :redface: , but I wonder if years ago there was a shipping restriction that made 42" barrels be the most common length. You know how 'urban myths' can last long past their once-valid life.

But seriously, with the last 2-years, 2 barrel sources told me that, haha!
 
According to Richard Akehurst, long barrels were also common in England from 1660 into the 1700's. "Apart from the lighter type of sporting gun with its French type lock and a barrel of about four feet, there were also long barrelled guns-5 to 6 feet long, with the English doglock that were used by wildfowlers." The World of Guns, page 40, Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, London 1972. ISBN 0 600 39236 8.
 
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