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Mountain Arms

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As I recall decent quality and well thought of production gun, not as nice as a factory GRRW or Sharon but certainly better than the mass market rifles then available, and completely out of my price range back then. I think, and keep in mind it has been almost 40 years, there was some sort of falling out or disagreement between the original owner and his newer partners and both parties stayed in business, at least for awhile, but I might be confusing them with another maker.

Can you tell who made the barrel (Douglas?) and lock?
 
The name is Ozark Mountain Arms. I have a .54 Hawken of theirs which I built from an 'in the white' kit in the early 80s. Green Mountain barrel, Ron Long lock, L & R Lock Co. double set trigger. Excellent gun. Here is an album of pictures of mine.
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Spence_2010/slideshow/Hawken

And a group I shot with it. :grin:



Spence
 
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They also had a Taney County rifle and a half stock they called the Muskrat .I think they were made in 32 to 45 calibers,flint or cap lock.Neat guns for sure. Nice work there Spence 10. Curt
 
Thanks guys - sure looks like one of their guns :thumbsup:

barrel.jpg


lock_1.jpg


stock.jpg
 
I see that your rifle is marked only Mtn. Arms, Inc., but mine is marked Ozark Mtn. Arms.



That means your rifle is a later one. The company was sold twice before it went out of business, and the first new owner kept the name. I suspect your rifle is their version. When I bought my rifle in 1980, it was from the original company, run by a fellow named Jean Arnaud.

Spence
 
Thank you, Old Ford. That rifle is special to me, it has a collection of 'firsts' attached to it.... first rifle I ever "built", first stock finished, first metal browned, and that's the first deer killed with a muzzleloader, the first deer killed running at full tilt on my first hunting trip to Nevada. Coincidentally, the last of most of those things, too. :haha:

Spence
 
George said:
The name is Ozark Mountain Arms. I have a .54 Hawken of theirs which I built from an 'in the white' kit in the early 80s. Green Mountain barrel, Ron Long lock, L & R Lock Co. double set trigger. Excellent gun. Here is an album of pictures of mine.

Spence
Actually, you are both right. The company started out as Mountain Arms, then the name changed to Ozark Mountain Arms.

Milt Hudson founded the company called Mountain Arms Inc. in Ozark, MO. It appears to have started producing Hawken rifles in 1977.

In 1979, Milt Hudson left Mountain Arms Inc. and formed a new company called The Hawken Armory located in Ozark, MO. Mr. Hudson had apparently been crowded out of Mountain Arms Inc. by some new partners he had taken in. The new owners changed the name of the company to Ozark Mountain Arms and moved it to Branson, MO. The company operated there until late 1983 or beginning of 1984 when Gene Arnaud sold it to Bob McKellar who moved it to Ashdown, AR. In the meantime, The Hawken Armory had apparently changed owners and moved to Hot Springs, AR in 1981.

It’s not clear how long The Hawken Armory operated in Hot Springs, AR, but the Ashdown, AR version of the Ozark Mountain Arms continued operating until at least 1987.

In an editorial in the November 1977 issue of Buckskin Report, John Baird had this to say about the rifle,

The Mountain Arms Hawken replica is an excellent piece”¦However, for the record, their rifle is a near copy of a rifle made by Ed White (now deceased), who used Art Ressel’s original S. Hawken as his model; the same rifle we pictured on page 30 of Hawken Rifles, The Mountain Man’s Choice”¦We say ”˜near copy’ because, in the interests of mass production, some modifications were necessary in the Mountain Arms version, i.e.: 1” barrel instead of a 1â…›” tapered barrel as on the original, minor variation in hardware, etc. Mountain Arms’ Hawken replica is, in fact, a copy of a copy”¦

Art Ressel's The Hawken Shop had parts that were cast from at least two originals in Ressel’s collection. The Ozark Mtn. Arms Hawken is a copy of a copy of one of those two originals. So in a way, the Hawken Shop Hawken and the Ozark Mountain Arms Hawken replicas are interpretations of the same original Hawken. I once thought that Ozark Mtn. Arms used some of The Hawken Shop parts on their rifle, but now realize that isn’t the case. The Ozark Mtn. Arms parts developed independently.

The rifles were offered stocked in maple or walnut. As Spence said, they were built with Green Mountain barrels. Early versions used Ron Long locks while later versions used L&R locks. L&R triggers were used throughout.

The Ozark Mtn. Arms Hawken is a good lookin’ rifle, especially with the fancy wood. As Baird pointed out, it is not an exact duplicate of an original Hawken. The biggest compromise is in the 1” straight octagon barrel, but that isn’t too bad since the 1” barrel makes for an easy handling rifle.
 
Thanks for the info, Mtn. Meek. A good summary of a complicated history.

Spence
 
Liver Eatin Johnson , Thanks for starting this topic. Always had a special place in my heart for the Hawken Rifle.

Spence , Thanks for sharing those pics of yours. It sure is a Beauty!

Mnt.Meek , Thanks for sharing the history of this company. I always love when you post. I know I'm gonna learn something every time you do.

Respectfully, Cowboy :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the link, good to see details. Seeing those, I'm pleased with mine. :grin:

Spence
 
That rifle in .58 should be a gamegetter for shure. Never had the pleasure of holding one but from what I have seen they are fine rifles. Spence that is a nice rifle .RW
 
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