Browning Rifle question

[DAKurth1]

Did Browning make an early version of their Mountain Rifle prior to calling it a Jonathan Browning Mountain Rifle?
I recently purchased a .50 caliber rifle that is exactly like my Mountain Rifle, same browned furniture, pewter nose cap, ram horn on drum, single set trigger. etc.
However, with the exception of the distinctive ram horn on the drum, the ONLY marking on the barrel is “50 cal”.
The bottom of the barrel channel on the stock is engraved with M3494.
These numbers also are stamped on the inside of the lock.
The only recognizable difference is there is no raised cheek piece on the left side of the stock like the JBMR.
Does anyone have any info on what this rifle may be?

 

[Notchy Bob]

I can’t give a definitive answer. However, I recall a post by a forum member some time back who had picked up a couple of JBMR barrels, and built Hawken-styled rifles around them. Maybe he was not the only one to do so.

Please take some more photos of the rifle and post them, if possible. The JBMR had a unique ( very thick) buttplate and a unique treatment of the scroll on the trigger guard, in addition to a single-set trigger. Photos showing this kind of detail may help identify your rifle.

Anyway, as far as I know, Browning introduced this rifle in its final form. Maybe yours was a factory prototype? I don’t know. I was trying to research these rifles a while back, but kept running into dead ends. There is also a bit of unfounded “folklore” about them.

More pictures would be great!

Notchy Bob

 

[Crockford]

It appears that the clean out hole is not in the same exact spot as the JBMR snails on their production guns. The casting finish on the snail is also not as smooth looking. I believe they also had a slotted screw not a hex head. But I know people change those out to hex for easier removal. Could be a prototype. I believe if it was a production gun from JB it would have the "Blackpowder Only warning " on the barrel because of company lawyers. The 50 Cal stamp appears to be hand stamped with 2 different size font stamps. So I believe it was built with a JB breech but not a JB barrel. I'm definitely no expert just my 2 cent.

 

[DAKurth1]

I can’t give a definitive answer. However, I recall a post by a forum member some time back who had picked up a couple of JBMR barrels, and built Hawken-styled rifles around them. Maybe he was not the only one to do so.

Please take some more photos of the rifle and post them, if possible. The JBMR had a unique ( very thick) buttplate and a unique treatment of the scroll on the trigger guard, in addition to a single-set trigger. Photos showing this kind of detail may help identify your rifle.

Anyway, as far as I know, Browning introduced this rifle in its final form. Maybe yours was a factory prototype? I don’t know. I was trying to research these rifles a while back, but kept running into dead ends. There is also a bit of unfounded “folklore” about them.

More pictures would be great!

Notchy Bob

Here are some comparison photos, with my JBMR always on the top and the one in question in the bottom.
Both rifles have had the front and rear sights replaced and the JBMR stock has a raised cheek rest that the one in question does not, but all of the other hardware on both rifles are identical.
The reason I believe the one in question also came from Browning is BOTH stocks have a serial number of sorts stamped into the bottom barrel channel flat and both numbers begin with “M”.

 

[Crockford]

May just have a replacement barrel.

 

[DAKurth1]

May just have a replacement barrel.

Although possible, that doesn’t explain the missing raised cheek area on the stock which is a distinctive design part of the JBMR rifle?

 

[Phil Coffins]

A rasp can remove a cheek piece and if the fellow is handy with sand paper and stock finish then you’d never know it had been changed. That goes for rebarreling too. These guns have been around long enough to have been reworked. Still a nice rifle.

 

[DAKurth1]

A rasp can remove a cheek piece and if the fellow is handy with sand paper and stock finish then you’d never know it had been changed. That goes for rebarreling too. These guns have been around long enough to have been reworked. Still a nice rifle.

All true and well may be the answer!
Thanks…

 

[sheriff john]

I know from my JBMR experience that lasted many years, involved replacement parts purchases, contacts with Browning, etc. that in the end one fellow ended up with the remaining stock of unused parts. Don't recall who/what store that was.

At first, you could still get everything. Later on - not much. Parts were all new, unused. I replaced a stock, lockplate, tumbler and three mainsprings. After replacing the last mainspring he had, I sold the gun. So ..at one point, it was possible to cabbage together a semblance of a JBMR. The replacement stock was identical to my original one.

 

[user 48679]

I dunno, but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it must be a duck........

 

[Robin Henderson]

I remember the Brownings. Like most traditional style muzzleloaders commercially available they were a little on the chucky side. I believe the one in question is a JBMR that has simply been reworked.

 

[Longrangehunter]

I'm with Phil Coffins on that, I thought the same thing. I have one, a .50 cal brown furniture w/silver hardware. The clean out could be off due to the person behind the work, odd there's no name on top of the barrel but then why is everything else on there?

My buckhorn rear sight is adjustable whereas the one on top is not, yet the other one in question is?