A PICTORIAL STUDY of 18th century, American fowling pieces. Over 160 smoothbore long guns are examined. Multiple photos of each gun, including close-ups of featured details. Fifteen pages of color close-ups—over fifty color photos! The most complete compilation of fowlers ever in one book. Essential resource for collectors, builders and flintlock enthusiasts!
Amazingly
overlooked, yet highly important, flintlock fowlers in Colonial
America armed our forefathers with the first truly "made-in-America"
guns. Doing double duty as hunting guns and firearms for defense, they put food
on the table and defended against Indians and enemy soldiers. The common farmer
in largely agricultural eighteenth century 
America often relied on his
American-built fowler, about which very little has been written.
Few records exist to assist researchers in determining where, how many and by whom many of these guns were crafted. By contrast, the foreign-made guns of the eighteenth century that were imported into America from Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries have been extensively researched and documented. But because the early gunmakers in the Colonies handcrafted guns using recycled parts from worn-out weapons, as well as imported parts from Europe, there are no manufacturing plant records or serial numbers to be traced.
To help identify
fowlers, which traditionally have been noted by collectors as
New England fowlers, club butt fowlers, Hudson Valley fowlers and more recently
Kentucky fowlers, the author has photographed over 160 guns for this book. 
To
these groups he has added a new classification, British-style fowlers, and a
sixth miscellaneous group, labeled unique fowlers, for those firearms whose
features don't fit into one of the other five categories.
For the past forty years, Tom Grinslade has been interested in the modern-day equivalent of the eighteenth century flintlock fowler, the shotgun. As an ardent bird hunter, Grinslade has hauled his birddogs from Mississippi to Canada chasing quail, pheasants, grouse and Hungarian partridge. Twenty years ago he hunted with an old English flintlock fowler and knows the cloud of smoke that accompanies the ignition of black powder.
In recent years, collecting flintlock arms has led the author to membership in many arms-related associations, including the American Society of Arms Collectors, the Kentucky Rifle Association, the National Rifle Association, the Indiana Antique Arms Collectors Association, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, the Pennsylvania Antique Gun Collectors Association and the New England Antique Arms Society. Grinslade has traveled over 10,000 miles, including four trips to New England, to photograph fowlers and gather information for this book. Because of their importance in the early history of our country, the author hopes the publication of this book will focus more attention on eighteenth century flintlock fowlers, thus generating more research and leading to a greater accumulation of knowledge about the first guns made in America.
© 2005 Scurlock Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.