A Mowrey

[jim bowie]

I grabbed that Mowery 12 ga on here last year. Very cool shotgun. Inscribed to H A "Hilly"Sailer he was the founder of the American trapshooting Association hall of fame or something similar. Still haven't shot it life is busy.
I now have a good excuse to buy a rifle to match.

 

[stephenprops1]

I once owned a steel, 32 caliber, Mowery muzzle loader. I played with it for 5 years and never really liked it. It fouled very quickly, and I had to clean it after nearly every shot. I found it cumbersome to service. I had to remove the buttstock if I wanted to clean the bore with water. Eventually I got tired of it and sold it.

 

[toot]

Here’s some photos of the original. The barrel is 34 1/2” and tapers slightly from 1” at the breech to .950 at muzzle. Caliber is around .45. Notice the square headed nail someone used to strengthen the main spring. In the late 50’s I shot an awful lot of rabbits and coyotes with this gun. First Muzzleloading rifle I owned.
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I have several original flintlocks that have a piece of leather belt inserted under the main spring to give it more spring. I guess that was a quick fix back in the day? it is more forgiven than a metalic nail? what ever works?

 

[Redcow]

Here is a pic of Bill Mowery in +/-1984 at a TMLRA Shoot in Brady, Texas showing me another of his builds!

 

[bang]

First time out and the spring broke. I'll never look at another tub of manure Mowrey. Spring is non-existent. Junk.

 

[bang]

Good find. I got a Mowrey from another forum member last year, 10k serial number. I can’t quite tell from your pic but I think it’s identical to mine. The bore was quite rusty and had a tight spot about 10 inches from the muzzle. I cleaned it and lapped it (my first attempt at lapping a bore) and it turned out great - I even got rid of the bad spot. It’s my favorite shooter right now. As I recall the target I’ve attached was at about 30 yards. But I did shoot from a bench.

Tell us all how well it shoots for you.

Shoots real good since I put a Gibbins breech plug and tang. Fitted it to a Renegade stock and cut the lock plate for the Gibbins tang.
Absurd to have the snail in the box. Main spring is weak brittle junk. This one blew the nipple out on second shot. Slammed the hammer back and broke the spring.
I'll never even look at a Mowrey again. Barrels are very good The rest is piss poor design. No parts available.
I have a Mowrey box that's going to make a great jug line weight.