This custom-built club butt fowler is truly one of a kind! It features an original lock and barrel mounted on to a beautifully shaped and lightly antique maple stock. These fowlers were extremely prevelant in colonial America and their use in both the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars is very well documented. However, modern reproduction are very scarce, making them perhaps the most underrepresented musket on the modern reenacting battlefield.
The lock is an original late 17th/early 18th Century French-made piece, that was nicely re-converted back to flintlock using modern, period correct parts. This insures that the lock will be as reliable as possible. The action of the lock is smooth and cock holds solid on both full and half cock.
The barrel remains in its original flint lock configuration (it does not appear to have been re-converted from percussion). The barrel is 52" long, which is very common for guns made prior to the Revolution. Despite barrel length, the gun is remarkably well balanced and the "club butt" geometry of the stock allows the piece to point very naturally. The .715 caliber barrel has some light pitting inside and out, but is in overall excellent condition. The overall length of the piece is 66".
The stock was carved from a blank. It is curly maple, as is appropriate for most American-made fowlers. The dimensions and lines of the stock are all very well executed, in accordance to the style and the time period. The stock was cut back roughly three inches from the muzzle to accept a socket bayonet. This alteration was extremely common on original guns that were pressed into military service in militia units. This alteration makes this gun ideal for reeenacting.
The furniture is hand forged from wrought iron and has no butt plate; all typical features of early American guns; particularly guns made in the Southern colonies like the Carolinas.
This musket is a perfect representation of an early American long fowler, the blending or recycled European components combined with a locally-made stock and furniture are very typical of early, pre-Revolution guns.
