50 smoothie

[dougeee]

Hey guys,
I'm about to purchase a 50 cal.smoothbore kit from sitting fox. Can anyone give me advice on it as far as PC for mid to late 1700's. Are there parts I can substitute to make it more PC.I really don't know about a 50 smoothie being correct for the time frame (but I don't see why not).The pictures in the ad are pretty vague so I was wondering if anyone is familiar with it.I mainly just really like the idea of a 50 smoothie.All comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I think you'll find that the same kits are available from Noth Star West, the actual kit builders. They sell kits, in-the-white guns and complete firearms. And their illustrations are much clearer. As for the .50 caliber gun, it depends what you want it for. The early English pattern might more correct for your time period. If you are looking for one gun to do it all, I think you would be better served by a 20 bore or larger, right on up to a 10 bore. Can you give us a little more information as to your planned usage? In any case, it is always wise to buy the best gun that you can--even if it is a little more than you can afford. IMHO.

 

[dougeee]

Thanks for the reply Russ T.,I will check out North Star.
I'm in the process of a settler turned Indian around the 1750-60's located in the northwestern part of Va.
I already own a nice built 62 cal. I'm learning how to build a little now (1 50 cal.kit and 1 45 pistol,in the process of a 50 cal. flint pistol).
The first rifle kit was a Traditions which turned out pretty good.I wanted to up the quality a little and try to build something a little more PC as far as furniture and such. The kits are really a hobby for me and a way to learn a little more.Thanks for the advice.

 

[dougeee]

Hey Russ T.,just checked North Stars site and didn't see anything in 50 cal. Did I miss something?

 

[Many Klatch]

There is a real good book entitled Firearms on the Frontier: The Guns of Fort Michilimackinac 1715 - 1781.

Anyway, the original fort was built on the N end of the Michigan mitten and the ground was mostly sand. Anything dropped on the ground disappeared quickly. The archeaologists wound up with a lot of perfectly good round balls so someone measured them all. It turns out that the majority of the ball is in the .57 to .58 caliber. There were only a relatively few .69 and no .72 caliber balls found.

Here's a partial breakdown from the chart on page 33. There were a total of 488 undamaged balls in the survey.

.48 - 2
.50 - 3
.51 - 6
.52 - 11
.53 - 9
.54 - 21
.55 - 47
.56 - 69
.57 - 84
.58 - 65
.59 - 44
.60 - 14
.61 - 15

The point is that the smaller calibers were what people carried in the 1751-1781 time period. The guns used less lead and powder than the big bores. If you are reenacting you should be OK with a .50 smoothbore.

My wife shoots a .50 smoothbore. With 35 grains of 3F it goes through 2 phone books and lodges in the third.

The only downside of .50 smoothbore is that the NMLRA has a minimum allowable caliber of .54 for competition shooting. If that is a consideration, you might want a .54. :thumbsup:

Many Klatch