barrel lengths

[buck]

I was looking at TOW's website and pondering their french fusil kits. I was thinking of making one in 54 rifled. They only offer these with a 44" barrel, which is way long for me (I am fairly short). I was thinking more along the lines of 36" or maybe even 32". My question is will cutting down the barrel affect the accuracy that much and is it safe? How would someone go about doing this or having it done? Probably some dumb questions but I know little about barrel thickness and ball rotations and would hate to destroy a good kit. Thanks in advance to all who reply. ::

 

[Mike Brooks]

Are you under 3 ft tall? Your height has nothing to do with barrel length.
I'm 6ft tall, should I shoot a gun with an 8 ft barrel?
French fusils were not rifled, they were smooth bored. That's going to be one funny looking gun with a 32" barrel. :shake:

 

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

Pillowtick,

Perhaps a carbine length gun would work better for you? Have you considered building a Brown Bess carbine?

 

[davy]

Are you under 3 ft tall? Your height has nothing to do with barrel length.
I'm 6ft tall, should I shoot a gun with an 8 ft barrel?
French fusils were not rifled, they were smooth bored. That's going to be one funny looking gun with a 32" barrel. :shake:

Ya have to ask yourself how thim Mexican soldiers felt at the Alamo .. using thim long Besses with Bayonets and bein so short themselves ... the gun/bayonets combo were taller than many of thim wuz! :curse: All in all they still got the job done .. even if they did ultimately come up a little short in tha process!

Davy

 

[rich pierce]

You'll lose thye grace and beauty as well as the authenticity of the originals if you cut it down. If you need a short flintlock smoothbore I suggest a late flintlock English fowler, about 36" barrel, steel furniture, walnut stock, would be nice.

 

[buck]

Are you under 3 ft tall? Your height has nothing to do with barrel length.
I'm 6ft tall, should I shoot a gun with an 8 ft barrel?
French fusils were not rifled, they were smooth bored. That's going to be one funny looking gun with a 32" barrel. :shake:

If your 6 foot tall, have you ever loaded a gun with a 8 foot barrel? I am sorry in your opinion I should be comfortable loading a barrel at eye level.I stand at 5'4" and a gun with a 14" pull and 42" barrel is 5 feet long. Kind of uncomfortable to load. I never said anything about period correct or what it would look like, I asked a question about cutting down a barrel. I wanted something to hunt with, and I like the way the french rifles shoulder, and I already have smoothbores. Thanks anyways.

 

[Zonie]

I'm looking at the TOTW catalog and I see they have a 1.062 tapered octagon to round barrel in .54 caliber, twist 1:56 which is 38 inches long (#Cole-54-38). It's a swamped round barrel. 4.2 pounds

They also have a .54 caliber 1:56 twist "Harper's Ferry Rifle" barrel which is a 1.105 tapered octagon to a tapered round barrel. This barrel is 33 inches long. (#Cole-1803) 5.5 pounds

Another barrel is the U.S.1814 which is a 1.100 tapered octagon
to a tapered round barrel, also in .54 caliber. This barrel is also 33 inches long. (Cole-1814c) 8 pounds

As the Fusil kit stocks are made for the BBL-20-42 barrel you would have to order one without the barrel inletting and do that task yourself.

Would the gun be PC? No. Would it be what you want to build? That's up to you, but choosing any of these barrels would remove the task of cutting a barrel off.
Because it is a tapered octagon to a round barrel is would have a little of the "feel and look" of the Fusil.
It would also cause the French Gun fans to pull their hair out and say some of those funny things like Sack Re Blew! or something like that.

Have fun!!

 

[Mike Brooks]

Are you under 3 ft tall? Your height has nothing to do with barrel length.
I'm 6ft tall, should I shoot a gun with an 8 ft barrel?
French fusils were not rifled, they were smooth bored. That's going to be one funny looking gun with a 32" barrel. :shake:

If your 6 foot tall, have you ever loaded a gun with a 8 foot barrel? I am sorry in your opinion I should be comfortable loading a barrel at eye level.I stand at 5'4" and a gun with a 14" pull and 42" barrel is 5 feet long. Kind of uncomfortable to load. I never said anything about period correct or what it would look like, I asked a question about cutting down a barrel. I wanted something to hunt with, and I like the way the french rifles shoulder, and I already have smoothbores. Thanks anyways.

I've loaded guns with a 5 ft barrel (60")and have a gun with a 6" (72") in the works. It's not all that hard to do, you set the butt by your left foot and grasp the gun by the muzzle then walk away from it till the muzzle is at the heigth you like to load from. Not all that tough.....
The frenchies 250 years ago were on average 5 ft tall, their issue musket had a 47" barrel...maybe they stood on stumps?