New To Black Powder - Mowrey

[Pigpopper]

I have been a lurker for many years here. I was at a gun show today and walked out with a Mowrey .50. Brass wrist and butt plate, brown finish (it looks blue in the photo), in very good shape. I have been collecting threads on Mowrey and Mowry rifles. Any other info would be appreciated.

Also any advice for newby black powder shooters would be appreciated as I know nothing...

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[Wes/Tex]

The guns marked "Olney, Texas" are the original Texas production, yours may be from the Iowa Park, Texas location...though it matters little unless you are a collecctor. Mowrey claimed the .50's ideal load was 100 to 125 grains of FFg but I always got best results in the 80 to 90 grain range. Finally settled on 75 FFFg since it was so accurate. Not a big horse load, but knocked Bambis into smothered vension with homemade noodles deliciousness! Even got an antelope with mine out near Marfa/Ft. Davis in the Trans Pecos area. Used the old 'flag' trick and tied about 18 inces of precut patching to the ramrod and held it up with a wiggle. Sure enough, ole Ante came to within about 80 yards to give it a hard look. When he turned to give the rest of the little herd a quick look-see, I got the gun up and pointed at him. He went good with noodles too! :wink: The brass ones fetched $149.50 back then and every Texas kid had to have one or two! They even did a hand made and special order Hawken back then too in addition to the large and small bore rifles and shotgun versions. Those hawkens were quite costly at $250. :haha: :rotf: They were all hand fittend and shaped and not a production gun. Boy how times have changed!!

 

[F.G. Ford]

A great starter to make you a great BP shooter is to get a copy of Dutch Shoultz' process for shooting black powder guns.
It is a bargain at twice the price.
You will be a better shot, no problems getting good accuracy out of your gun, and most of all getting to enjoy your BP gun to the max.
Now caps.
If you think you need a hundred, get a thousand.
They are getting hard to get, and the price is unreasonable.
But your gun is no good without them.
Fred

 

[Maven]

I have an iron framed .50cal. Mowery, not from Olney though. Two things you should know: (1) My bore takes a .495" RB as per the instructions. (2) I believe Mowrey recommended using no more than 90gr. FFg, also as per the instructions. With a brass frame, I don't think I'd consider using a heavier charge. Btw, it is an accurate and well-balanced rifle, in spite of its 1" (across the flats) bbl.

 

[Pigpopper]

Thank you for the feed back.

The seller recommended no more than 100 grains. Also, .490 Hornady round ball. He also recommended starting with pyrodex R/S (bought select at show) with prelubed patches but he wrote down 2 inch cleaning. The only patches I saw at the show were TC Round Ball Patches #7136 so I bought a package of 100.

There were no .490 balls at the show. Only .495 and .480 so I passed.

I picked up a CVA Hunter Powder Measure. AC1413.

He also recommended I store the original ram rod for safe keeping and buy a "working" (synthetic?) one for shooting regularly. Also a good JAG. any recommendations on a brand or style of rods?

I will order the book you recommended. Thanks again for your time.

 

[hanshi]

I always thought highly of the Mowreys and liked the way they looked. Never could get one back then and when I got to where I could I got something else. Even the brass ones are strong as the pressure from firing is held within the steel barrel. Either way they are very nice rifles.

 

[torn moc]

Pigpopper ...you have a really nice rifle !I have loved the model ever since they first were produced...took me over 20 years to find my first one ( second hand),,,,and since then I have owned a .32, .40 custom, a .50 Georgia Treegun 24" barrel,a .54 Rocky Mountain with scheutzen butt plate and a 12 guage..... the Georgia is the only one with brass receiver..the rest are iron receivers. The mowreys have a 1:48 twist and handle conicals very well....Your gun is not stamped OLNEY which means it was produced by Deer Creek in Indiana who produced them when Olney Texas ceased...The lock parts from Olney guns will Not interchange with the Deer Creek guns with out hand fitting....I suggest you stock up on a few lock parts such as a stirrup and mainspring and sear ...you can still get these parts at Deer creek... They have no website you must call them by phone...765-525-6181 is the last # I have for them, their address is DEER CREEK PRODUCTS PO BOX 486 WALDRON IN 46182. I have never had to replace any parts in my Mowreys...but it dosent hurt to have spares just in case !!! Enjoy your Mowrey.! They have been out of production for awhile now and are getting to be far and few between ! The rifle is a copy of the ALLEN THURBER Rifle which was produce in the 1830's just after percussion caps were invented....it has minimal lock parts which means less things to break....which is a GOOD THING !!! Just before they quit making them they retailed for $450.00

 

[Dr5x]

Is this Dutch Shoultz you recommend any relation to the Dutch Schoultz I have heard about?

Dutch

 

[longcruise]

Hmmmm, I always thought it was Schultz. :haha:

 

[F.G. Ford]

The one and the same!
To all, Dutch's instructions are a must, for good and successful black powder shooting.
Fred

 

[Tom Compton]

Scalper's recommendation to get spare parts should be followed. I have spare parts for all of my flinters and most of my per-suction guns (kinda hard to come by for my original 14 ga SxS Brit made).

The main spring broke on my Cochran flint lock after 30 years. Opened my big box, dug out the Altoids tin marked Cochran and was back on the line. Took about 6 months to find another complete lock but that's more spare parts.
TC

 

[Pigpopper]

Thank you for the info Scalper! I will follow your advice. I am now on the search for a iron frame rifle.

 

[rafterob]

Good rifles, the tighter ball and patch combination will give you the best accuracy. .495 ball with .015 patch or .490 ball and .020 patch. I recommend starting with .490 balls and .015 patch until you get used to shooting it. 65-70 grains ffg is what I use, but fowling is an issue in the flash channel that will lead to a misfire. fffg may reduce this problem. I have learned to fire a blank cap or two about every 6-8 shots, that keeps that flash channel blown out. Deer Creek will have spare parts. There was one, maybe two owners between Bill Mowry and deer creek. The newer ones actually have some improved engineering on the tumbler/internals. But basically the same design.

 

[Pigpopper]

Thanks ghettogun. I'll try that this weekend when my supplies arrive. There is very little muzzleloading supplies in my area apparently.

 

[Vaino]

Thought about buying a Mowrey many times but never did.....mainly because of the metal wrist. Deer hunting in Wisconsin is sometimes in very cold temps and gripping very cold metal in lieu of wood w/ the bare hands isn't the way to go. Wear gloves? Usually wear muffs and remove the right handed one when deer are spotted.

The Mowrey from the info is a quality MLer and they look good to boot....Fred

 

[Pigpopper]

I put a piece of tape on a cleaning rod with a snug rag on it and pulled it out of my gun several times. It rotated approximately 1/2 times. Since my barrel measures 32 inches, I assume that means my gun has a 1 in 66 twist (assuming it was cut to a standard 1 in 66). Does that sound right?

 

[Zonie]

Yup, it sounds right.

IMO, that's a goodness if you want to shoot patched roundballs. Not so good for elongated bullets though.

I know at one time, Mowrey was selling some of these rifles with fast twist barrels that were designed for shooting slugs only.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Thought about buying a Mowrey many times but never did.....mainly because of the metal wrist. Deer hunting in Wisconsin is sometimes in very cold temps and gripping very cold metal in lieu of wood w/ the bare hands isn't the way to go. Wear gloves?...

I have seen the Mowrey rifles with leather wrapped around the wrist while hunting in colder climetes.
I wondered, Why didn't I think of that?
Whilst I held my iron framed Mowrey, with my frozen hands.
Fred

 

[Pigpopper]

Good idea to wrap the metal in cold weather. Not needed so much in TX but if I hunt some with friends in MO....

 

[bpd303]

Welcome to the Mowrey club. Here is a link to mine and some good information. http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/280141/post/1281719/hl//fromsearch/1/