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Just ordered my first smoothbore

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Eric/WV

40 Cal.
Joined
Apr 11, 2004
Messages
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I just ordered my first smoothbore from Narragansett Armes. It is a Culpeper Smooth Rifle in .62 cal. It has a 38" barrel with rear sights. It will be trimmed in Iron with a patchbox and cheek piece inlay. It's gonna be a beautiful gun. The 6 or 7 months wait is going to kill me.
 
I'm new to the world of smoothbores, so I figured a rear sight would make things easier. It seems to me that a smoothbore would be very versatile for all forms of hunting. In the hills of WV, it is rare to take a long distance shot at a deer, so I think a smoothbore will work fine for everything.
 
Congradulations on your new smoothbore. I'm sure you'll
have a great time with it.

The rear sights will probably make things easier. The only negative might be keepin' you out of Trade musket matches.
They are a lota fun. I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun anyway.
Regards,
charlie47
 
Smoothbores ARE fun. The versatility of projectiles used in them is incredible, from sipe shot, to buckshot to 1/2 handful(not to be taken literally)of pistol balls and single ball or buck and ball, they're a blast. The tightness of buskshot patterns is rather surprising once a good load is developed. About 95% of all big game is shot under 100yds in North America and the smoothbore gives up very little to a rifled bore for most hunting. The average bore size of .45 or .50 limits hunting big game to 100yds. or less depending on the game, and the large smoothbore fits right in there with them.
Daryl
 
I have a smoothbore 62 cal Virginia I love, Monday I was turkey hunting with it(with shot) . This fall I will deer hunt with it(with RB) . At 50 yds it shoots nearly as well as my rifles. With shot (its cylinder bore) anything winthin 20 yds is toast. I LOVE this gun. Its also lighter than my rifles, it too is equiped with a rear sight, I can always take it off if I want to compete. One other thing no short starter needed....
 
I know I'm preachin to the choir here, but smoothbores would be the solution to a lot more hunting situations than most folks care to admit.

There is just such a lure and aura about a longrifle. If some dreaded legislation came down and limited us to one gun I would have a very agonizing time deciding on smoothbore or rifle. I can tell you that my first custom muzzleloader (back in the late 80's) was a .66 cal military fusil (a Kit Ravenshear 1759 light infantry 'carbine' - only 42" long barrel instead of 46" like the First Land Pattern). That one edged out Cabin Creek's Yorktown rifle, a TVM Jaeger and Early Virginia, and a simple but graceful Ted Fellowes Bucks Co. I researched that choice for months. Ted F. was such a nice guy that I do regret not having one of his pieces, but that's the only regret.

I'm glad I live in a time and country where I can have both!
 
i also just ordered a smoothbore should be here next week.its called a carolina smoothbore in 60 caliber i know little about flintlocks learning as i read and watch other shooters
 
Howdy,

I inherited, at the death of my darling husband, what I believe may be what you describe in one of your posts as
"my first custom muzzleloader (back in the late 80's) was a .66 cal military fusil (a Kit Ravenshear 1759 light infantry 'carbine' - only 42" long barrel instead of 46" like the First Land Pattern)." I have not measured the barrel, but i do recall that it was .66 calibre. I am trying to get an appraised value on the gun. Not sure I want to sell it, but I would like to insure it adequately if nothing else. I posted a note to this site and will get some pictures up asap. I would appreciate any input you might have on this piece. We bought it in 1986 for, I believe, $900. But since Kit has passed away also, I figure the value must have increased at least a bit. Many thanks for any help you might offer

All of Good

Elizabeth Lindsay Jasper
Widow of Clyde R. Jasper
Author/Webmaster of Digital History Ltd
and Montcalm and Wolfe
 
Kit_1.jpg


Look like this? Here's Kit with mine.

Sorry for your loss. Personally, I'd insure it for $1,500. I just sold mine to Hunter Kirkland and that's about what he'd resell it at. It broke my heart to sell mine, but I wanted to 'reinvest' in a custom flintlock rifle.

Regards,

Charlie Pearsall
 
Stumpkiller,
I just read your post.I think I would part with my left arm before I could sell a Kit Ravenshear gun.I met Kit and his wife several years ago at a rondevous near Winchester, Va.I couldnt afford to buy a gun from him ,but I did buy a bear jaw handled short sword and also a cleaning rod that Kit called a kind of "swiss Army Knife" of cleaning rods.I will try to post a photo of it here some time.It has a antler handle containing a powder measure, vent pick, tow worm, and patch knife, screw driver combo.He was a wonderful gentleman and I would love to own one of his Besses.
Juniata Jack
 
I think I would part with my left arm before I could sell a Kit Ravenshear gun.

Believe me, it was an agonizing decision. I'll relate it as a soul clensing exercise and to perhaps help someone teetering between smoothbore and rifle.

When I ordered the fusil I had the intentions of doing some F&I War reenactments and, at the time, NY did not allow a rifle of any type to be used during regular gun season for deer. I had been primarily a M/L rifle shooter, and as a trial horse, I built one of the first T/C New Englander kits to see just what kind of accuracy I could expect with a large PRB out of a sightless barrel. I proved to myself that it was good out to 50 yards.

Well, I never did git into organized reenacting. Bought a 34' sailboat that is our weekend home. Got into radio controlled airplanes again, got heavily into traditional archery, etc., etc. Just a few years ago NY ruled to allow M/L rifles to be used during regular season (even in the formerly 'shotgun slug only' regions). My own hunting requirements have changed so that I like a bow for bunnies, a double 20 ga. for grouse, and I've been potting squirrels with reduced loads in my .54 percission deer rifle. This time of year I like to take a short woods walk after work and just do some plinking - and anything works for that. In fact, generally I take my recurve bow (clean-up is much easier ::). Another factor is that I started using Natural Lube, and not having to wipe between shots has increased rifle shooting enjoyment for me. I just wasn't grabbing the fusil on my way out the door as I had in the past. I was sad to do it, but it represented more value to me as capital than as a display or occasional use piece.

I decided to have the rifle I've wanted since I saw one as a teenager (a Lehigh flinter w/patchbox, carving and engraving copied from an original) built by a respected gunsmith - and I just couldn't justify that without selling the Ravenshear fusil. There will be a smoothbore flintlock in my future - it just won't be another Ravenshear.
 
Stumpkiller- You have talked of corrosion on your boat in other posts do you keep it in or near salt water? In Michigan we don't have much corrosion with reasonable care.Rocky /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
S'true - wood rot is a bigger concern than corrosion on freshwater. Even with a fiberglass hull there's plenty of things to fret.

The big boat was on Cayuga Lake, is now Ontario Lake. (Hows come sometimes we put the "lake" in front?). Smaller boat we trailer to the Chesapeake Bay once or twice a year. Our larger boat has 12 holes at or below the waterline for through-hull fittings. When you're standing on something that weighs 16,000 pounds and has 12 holes below the waterline you think about them ALL the time. The top of the mast is 52 ft above the water. That would only need to fall on you once due to a corroded fitting to ruin your fun. And, lucky us, there is acid in the rain hereabouts. That can leach in between the strands of shroud cables and eat them away over time. They don't have to break, just get loose in the swaged end fittings.
 
Stumpkiller Wood rot is why you see fiberglass boats in the land fills,not as many aluminum boats.Do you fish the Chesapeake,My daughter is stationed at Lanley AFB and lives in Yorktown. I know nothing about salt water fishing but visiting there I thought there has got to be fish in there. Rocky /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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