I've always been a rifleman and just never warmed up to scatterguns though they do see some use. Ball is shot through my flint smoothbore a lot more than shot. I don't like picking shot out of squirrels and much prefer a rifle. Doesn't mean I don't or never use shot; just means it's a rarity.
*Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.*
Posts: 3560 | Location: Maine (by way of Georgia then Va.) | Registered: 26 January 2009
I mostly use my .32 Southern rifle for tree rats but once in a while I do take the 20ga. fowler. They booth work but like Hanshi said, you don't have to pick shot out of them with a rifle. Best regards. RH
Posts: 1128 | Location: Iowa | Registered: 15 December 2007
You didn't say what you wanted to use said firearm fore so....
I use a rifle for almost everything but use the smoothbore for grouse. Once I get a deer with the flintlock rifle, I will try to take a deer with the trade gun, a smoothbore flintlock.
What is the populations like around where you hunt??If it goes up it will come down,or so I was told.I like the challange of a rifle but in populated areas scatter gun. Fur = rifle Feathers= scattergun,not fast and hard just guidelines for me.I also hunt with a Slingshot and marbles, sometimes.
The squirrels around here are tiny so no one hunts them but if I was to go after one I'd use a smoothbore with shot for safety. Never know where a rifle ball will come down. Even if you hit the squirrel it might carry a ways after going through him.
Posts: 214 | Location: Big Arm Montana | Registered: 17 September 2013
For safety due to leaf cover and fully camoflaged bow hunters here in Pa. I would use a smoothie. Later when the leaves are down, the rifle comes out and I am verry fussy about backstops for my shots. BJH
Posts: 69 | Location: Central Pa. | Registered: 14 September 2009
I alternate around using different guns...last 2 years I used a new .40cal late Lancaster to make it earn its keep. This year I'll be getting the 20ga Early Virginia out for some air with a few loads of #5s...haven't used her since 2012. (spring Turkey and fall Doves).
Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores Hunt Like The Settlers
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006
I just can't warm up to a smoothbore either. Every rifle and every rifle barrel is different with no two being the exact same or shooting the exact same. I guess it the individualism of them that makes me love em so much.
Posts: 678 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: 30 January 2005
Well here's my 2* ,I have wanted a smoothbore for a fer piece,finally got to buy one an plan on putting same to good use,squirrel,rabbit,turkey,deer,hog,etc. I am looking forward to learning what this smoothbore can teach me,so if I have to pick out some shot then I reckon I'll pick.
Originally posted by mtnmike: Well here's my 2* ,I have wanted a smoothbore for a fer piece,finally got to buy one an plan on putting same to good use,squirrel,rabbit,turkey,deer,hog,etc. I am looking forward to learning what this smoothbore can teach me,so if I have to pick out some shot then I reckon I'll pick.
For my general purpose hunting here in North Carolina, if I could only have one firearm, without question it would be a smoothbore...they've opened up worlds of different hunting opportunities without giving up anything I used to use a rifle for. The majority of my rifle use has been relegated to year round plinking at the range with the .40 / .45cals...and most hunting is now done with the 20 and 28 gauges. One of the best plans & memories I have is going squirrel hunting with the 28ga a couple years ago, and carrying a couple PRBs in my pocket. An hour befoe dark, I dumped the shot charge, and seated a PRB down...ended up taking a Doe right at dark.
Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores Hunt Like The Settlers
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006
All we have in the boreal regions are those pesky little red squirrels - it takes a dozen or so to make a meal (sigh). They are destructive little beggers, though. When it comes time to wage war on the little beggers I use whatever I happen to have in hand.
Most often that will be a smoothbore, either trade gun or English pistol with a charge of #6 shot.
“A good dog is so much a nobler beast than an indifferent man that one sometimes gladly exchanges the society of one for that of the other.” (William Francis Butler)
Posts: 28 | Location: Two Rivers, Alaska | Registered: 23 March 2013
For me a small rifle is ok for squirrels but with a large bore you will tear them up too much unless you "bark" them. With a smoothbore it doesn't much matter the size as you control the shot.
Now that my eyes are over 65, I've gone to the fowler since fuzzy sight picture might create a bad wound situation on any size game, and we all owe them better than that.
Posts: 19 | Location: Bastrop County, Texas | Registered: 25 May 2010
It depends on why you go. Do you want a critter in the pot most every shot? = Shotgun. Do you want the challenge of a rifle shot and maybe miss once and a while? = Rifle. That how I look at it.....But that's just me.
Keep inside the tree line, Don't let 'em know where yer bedded. Some have less than you do and my be inclined to try and take what little ya have.
Posts: 107 | Location: The Soviet Socialist state of Connectitax | Registered: 29 May 2008