Cookson fowler

[dukewellington]

Does anyone own or have any opinions on the Cookson Fowler? I'd love a fowler for all round hunting.

Cheers :wink:

 

[Capt. Jas.]

If you are talking about the parts set from The Rifle Shoppe I would say OK but be prepared to wait.
If you are talking the indian import, I would say save your money or look into Leonard Day's Bolton fowling piece.

 

[dukewellington]

What's the indian version like?

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Mostly it's nothing like a fowler ought to be. It doesn't look right and it is way too heavy. You get what you pay for.

 

[chuckpa]

The Indian Fowler has a heavy stock and that can be taken care of but the one I have is a very reliable gun. I had one of our best smooth bore shooters use my gun and the comment was that it was a good accurate shooing gun.

 

[squirejohn]

I have one of the India import Cookson fowler's. At 10 lbs. it is much too heavy and awkward for general hunting such as birds, rabbits or even waterfowl. Mine is accurate shooting roundball after several barrel bending sessions and would be okay for large game from a blind.

 

[J.D.]

IMHO, the classic English fowler of the mid 18th century would make an excellent, all round hunting gun. The better ones are very light, handle very well, and are a joy to shoot.

I'm thinking of building one in 14 or 16 bore, for all 'round use.

God bless

 

[Chilidog]

IMHO, the classic English fowler of the mid 18th century would make an excellent, all round hunting gun. The better ones are very light, handle very well, and are a joy to shoot.

God bless

I agree. A fine all round gun.

 

[Quartermaster James]

I've got one from MVTCo too. I'm not going to pretend it's a finely made custom fowling piece - it's a $600 import.

That said, after refinishing the stock and tuning the lock, I've no complaints. She doesn't weigh ten pounds either, at least a pound lighter, maybe more. Remember too that these have a 51", 14 gauge (.69 caliber) barrel; take off ten inches and go down a gauge or two smaller and you will have a lighter gun!

Would I like a fine custom fowling piece? Sure! Who's buying?

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Sounds like you should have. You spent $600 and had to "refinish" the stock and tune the lock. And it's still too heavy but taking 10" off the barrel will help with that as will going to a larger bore. That gets you into a price range where you could have gotten a pretty nice, used semi custom fowler, and had a gun that will appreciate as the years pass. Still, it does sound like you have a fowler of classic Indian quality.

 

[firefoot]

I agree with Russ T. Frizzen although a little less brutal. :surrender: The cooksen fowler is very heavy and unweildy. A fowler is for shooting fowl and should be light and fast. Check track of the wolf daily and you can get a custom fowler for $1100.-$1200. Which is what you would spent trying to improve a cooksen. and you'll have something that lasts and will apprieciate in value

 

[Quartermaster James]

Well shucks! There's a lot I'd do different in this life if I could go back with what I now know!

 

[Maverick3855]

I've got one from MVTCo too. I'm not going to pretend it's a finely made custom fowling piece - it's a $600 import.

That said, after refinishing the stock and tuning the lock, I've no complaints. She doesn't weigh ten pounds either, at least a pound lighter, maybe more. Remember too that these have a 51", 14 gauge (.69 caliber) barrel; take off ten inches and go down a gauge or two smaller and you will have a lighter gun!

Would I like a fine custom fowling piece? Sure! Who's buying?

It sounds like you did what I do to virtually every gun I buy no matter who manufactures it.
I don't have a single gun whether it be flint or cartridge that I have not modified to suit me.
I refinish EVERYTHING.
I have obsessive compulsive disorder over it or something.
I have looked at the MVT guns and they probably don't require much more work than I would do to a $1,000-$1,500 fowler, I refinish and re-brown all my flinters and repark all my WW2 Garands and Springfields and age all my cowboy stuff.
Modify and rework everything to suit my taste.
Nothing is sacred except my Pedersoli Sharps which came with an unusually pretty stock which has saved it from refinishing.
I have replaced the sights on that though.
I buy almost everything I can in kit form now because I know I'm going to re-do it anyway.
My wife can't comprehend my taking a brand new shiny gun and ripping it apart and aging it so it looks like it has been dragged around the mountains for a few decades.
For someone like me the MVT would not be a hinderance. I have files and sandpaper as well as torches, It would cost me nothing to tune it and modify it to my taste and would look the same as one of my $1,000 guns after I was through.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I expect you might have to remove a lot more wood from an Indian gun than from one of your fowlers and then there's that pesky quality issue. Unless you are really getting screwed when you buy those $1500 fowlers, of course. :wink:

 

[tiger13]

according to the MVTC site their Cookson fowler specs are: The barrel is .69 caliber and is 51" long. This is the longest production musket ever! As long as it is, the stock is slender and graceful so it weighs in at only 8.8 lbs, which is less than an Italian Charleville. Overall length is 68".

So that puts the weight well less than 10 pounds...

 

[squirejohn]

Maybe they have recently lightened them up a bit, but mine bought a few years ago weighs 10 lbs. on an accurate scale.

 

[rickystl]

I purchased a MVTC Cookson Fowler second hand, 2-3 years ago with the same intention of slimming down the stock. There was just too much wood. But here is the biggest problem trying to do that: The forearm. And this seems to be true with all the Indian made guns. The ramrod is positioned too far below the barrel. Because of this, you can only remove so much wood, but not enough to look right. The amount of wood needed to be removed would take going right through the ramrod hole, if you know what I mean. And, mine had so much wood below the lock area that it would require making the trigger shorter and re-inleting the trigger guard.
But the forearm problem is a major design flaw. I wonder if the suppliers even know this?
You guys might want to go to the "Pre-Flintlock" section of the Forum. I just posted an Indian wheellock pistol with a semi-radical re-do. Even though we took off about a half-inch of wood off this pistol, you can see how low the ramrod still sits below the barrel. There is no fix for this but a complete re-stock, which I may do anyway. :haha:
Anyway, that was my experience with the Cookson. Other opinions may very. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[spudnut]

I like mine and for 600 its a decent gun

 

[Ike Godsey]

got any pics you might wanna share? please??

ike

 

[spudnut]

No pics but all Ive done to mine was sand off the shiny finish,dingrd it up a bit,wiped a black tempera paint over it and lightly steel wooled it off, then stained it dark,I used the mustard treatment on the shiny metal to tone it down a might then burned my initials into the stock.