Club butt fowlers have a distinctively shaped stock and are aptly named for the unusually large section at the butt. The heavy convex form of the underside of the stock is traceable to early European arms. This style is seen on military matchlock guns preceding the flintlock era.
The oddly bowed contour of American club butt fowlers derived from the design of these European weapons. Imports with club butt stocks from England, Liege and France served as patterns for versions that were mostly indigenous to eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some collectors call them "Marshfield" fowlers, attributing their origins to an area around Marshfield, south of Boston near Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Generally, club butt fowlers were very plain, only rarely carved and seldom fitted for a bayonet. However, their production continued over a long period of time... (1710 - 1780)
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