Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a 12-gauge fowler (shotgun) that is intended for harvesting big tom turkeys with long beards and big, beautiful fans (tail feathers). It was assembled from a Jim Chambers kit and sports a 46″ octagon to round barrel that is jug choked to full. The gun is ridiculously long at 5′ 2″ and weighs over 8 pounds. I am anxious to see how this patterns and hopefully get a shot at a bird this spring. This is my fourth gun to put together, and I thoroughly enjoy building these flintlock kits.
Despite its size, it has elegant Fowler lines and feels good in the hand. I am not sure how well I could swing this on any fast flying bird, but I can for sure pop a strutting tom with it.
The Chambers kits require some slightly advanced building skills, such as soldering small parts like this front sight and drilling and tapping screw holes. Learning to do these things is fun and rewarding, and I have found that almost any screw-up while climbing the learning curve can be fixed. On previous guns, I felt that I spent 30% of my time assembling and 70% fixing mistakes. I think I spent only about 25% of my time fixing things on this gun, which very well could be my last.
I could have done a better job polishing this butt plate, but they almost instantly get beaten up with use.
Love these flintlocks! Jim Chambers sold his business to Jim Parker, and now it is called “Calvary Flintlocks.” I spoke with Mr. Chambers the week he sold the business, and he said that Mr. Parker is a quality guy and will do a great job running the business. Jim Chambers is 80 and a super fellow. I think he deserves some rest! I know the flintlock world will miss him and his wife. I wish them the best in thier next phase of life.
Below are pictures of the gun build in process.
A clean, organized work area is the sign of a sick mind.
OOPS!!! I broke this damn thing in half!!
No worry, Titebond wood glue and some thoughtful clamping fixed this up like new. Just to be safe, I epoxy bedded the barrel into the stock with Acraglass. There really isn’t anything that cannot be fixed.
I hope you enjoyed checking out the fowler, and thanks for visiting the Birdhunter.
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