Mowry

[telebasher]

I bought a 36 cal. that was stamped Iowa Park Tx. Never got to shoot that little rifle as a friend offered me a hundred more than what I paid for it so that is where two fools met.LOL!

 

[fatty]

Mowry Gun Works was originally in Iowa Park Texas in the 1970's.later(80s) they went out of business.Precision Machine moved in doing general machine shop work.The old rifling bench/tool remained there in the shop for years.I've heard there is a Mowry gun maker or shop in Olney 40 miles south of Iowa Park,don't know if it's the same outfit.

 

[asbrown]

My Mowrey is marked Olney TX and I don't think it's 2 different companies, of course I've been wrong before! :idunno:

 

[D Sanders]

i have a bud that has a couple Mowry rifles and he seems to love 'em. They are almost never mentioned or discussed here, why? ...rare?, junk?, not sought after?, cant find?, too expensive? :idunno:

I own an iron mounted .54 cal. It shoots great. Only thing is that it was a kind of pain in the rump to clean because the breach plug is part of trigger and lock assembly and cannot be separated from the barrel easily. I have to remove the nipple and use a plastic tube in a bucket to clean it. I still have it and will never part with it but it has been collecting dust for the last 20+ years.

HH 60

 

[Eterry]

Here's a re-post on Bill Mowrey I posted sometime back:

Bill Mowrey was a master machinist, gunsmith and made black powder rifles and pistols; one of my favorite stories he told was of him turning 16" battleship barrels during WWII at the shipping yard where he sat behind the cutting tool, riding the lathe carriage as it made its cuts.

He had a shop in Olney, TX then later moved to Wichita Falls, TX. where I met him. He was a cracker-jack gunsmith but lacked some in business skills and sold the rights to his rifles. A good friend of mine bought his shop from his widow and still gunsmiths out of it and has several of his rifles. His rifles were well made, almost over engineered as I always thought they were heavy for caliber. Everyone I know who has one around here wont part with them, they are that well respected.

I later learned from his good friend that he personally made 166 guns to sell, and each that he made himself has his name and the serial #, with no location mentioned. Those with a location on the barrel were made by those who bought the rights to produce his weapons. I think Olney, Texas, Iowa Park, Texas are the earliest, before moving up north.
Bill continued to manufacture parts for quite some time after selling the rights to the weapons.

Hope this helps.
Eterry

 

[Rifleman1776]

That link must be outdated, won't open.
The Mowry had limited popularity because it was a different critter. It had a weakness, especially with the brass rifles in that the hole in the breech was also the bearing for the hammer and would wear. If a hardened bushing was put in there the rifle might have been better thought of and appreciated.

 

[topbike]

I am new to the forum but also have a Mowrey rifle in .54cal marked Olney, Texas. I just purchased the rifle at a show about 3 weeks ago and it seemed to work fine. I was getting ready today to take it to the range on Saturday and all of a sudden the trigger went limp and the hammer had no tension. I opened the brass cover over the trigger and discovered that the u-shaped mainspring was no longer in place. Also there was a rectangular collar type piece loose in the lock. I will admit to not being very mechanically minded so I am not sure what happened nor what the solution might be. Does anyone have any insight as to what happened?

 

[ryoung14]

Heard that Mowreys (at least some of them) had gain-twist barrels.

A black-powder fanatic I once worked with owned one until his house was burglarized. He was especially bitter about losing the Mowrey. He claimed the gain-twist was what made it a tack-driver.

 

[D Sanders]

I have a Mowry in a .54 cal. It was made with a 1 in 70 ball twist. I don't know about the gain twist. I think at the time I rdered the gun, there were some custom things that you could get on it. And yes, it is a fine shooting accurate rifle none the less. :thumbsup:
HH 60

 

[D Sanders]

Here's a re-post on Bill Mowrey I posted sometime back:

Bill Mowrey was a master machinist, gunsmith and made black powder rifles and pistols; one of my favorite stories he told was of him turning 16" battleship barrels during WWII at the shipping yard where he sat behind the cutting tool, riding the lathe carriage as it made its cuts.

He had a shop in Olney, TX then later moved to Wichita Falls, TX. where I met him. He was a cracker-jack gunsmith but lacked some in business skills and sold the rights to his rifles. A good friend of mine bought his shop from his widow and still gunsmiths out of it and has several of his rifles. His rifles were well made, almost over engineered as I always thought they were heavy for caliber. Everyone I know who has one around here wont part with them, they are that well respected.

I later learned from his good friend that he personally made 166 guns to sell, and each that he made himself has his name and the serial #, with no location mentioned. Those with a location on the barrel were made by those who bought the rights to produce his weapons. I think Olney, Texas, Iowa Park, Texas are the earliest, before moving up north.
Bill continued to manufacture parts for quite some time after selling the rights to the weapons.

Hope this helps.
Eterry

Very interesting! :thumbsup:

 

[Rod Lassey]

I am new to the forum but also have a Mowrey rifle in .54cal marked Olney, Texas. I just purchased the rifle at a show about 3 weeks ago and it seemed to work fine. I was getting ready today to take it to the range on Saturday and all of a sudden the trigger went limp and the hammer had no tension. I opened the brass cover over the trigger and discovered that the u-shaped mainspring was no longer in place. Also there was a rectangular collar type piece loose in the lock. I will admit to not being very mechanically minded so I am not sure what happened nor what the solution might be. Does anyone have any insight as to what happened?

A friend of mine just had his apart a month ago, first time I'd seen the 'innards' of one of those. I'm going from memory, so I may be off a little, but....as I recall, the mainspring just kind of sits in place, the little loop is a stirrup that connects the end of the mainspring to the tumbler. It looks like you could have the mainspring bear directly on the tumbler, but don't do it as it can snap the spring--the stirrup loop must go between them. We didn't need anything more than pliers to put it together, as there isn't much tension on the spring at rest.

Rod

 

[Dphar]

i have a bud that has a couple Mowry rifles and he seems to love 'em. They are almost never mentioned or discussed here, why? ...rare?, junk?, not sought after?, cant find?, too expensive? :idunno:

I have a late one that I pulled the original barrel off of and use as a test bed for shooting picket bullets. It broke a mainspring 2 years ago and I have not yet made a new one.
The later ones were junk in almost every regard. Barrel I pulled looked like it was reamed and rifled with dull, rusty tools etc. The ones in the 1960s were better. But I have never seem one except in old Muzzle Blasts ads.

Dan

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

This post here shows the innards of the Mowrey action, this one being s/n 173.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...23/post/393898/hl/Mowrey/fromsearch/1/#393898

 

[hoot10]

I have a 50 cal Trapper model that I bought back in 1979- 80. I love it. It is a bit heavy but I got used to it.