Please help identify this

[Bullshop]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/1414db4d9961a8f7.jpg

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/1414db4da78c9013.jpg

When I first saw this I thought it was a copy of a Wesson lock but now I am not sure. There are no markings on it inside or out. The only thing on the gun is on the toe of the stock and is marked T. O. Miller 142007
I think the number may indicate this as no. 14 built in 2007.
It is a two piece design that splits at the bottom. The trigger guard threads into the bottom and is one of the bolts that holds the two pieces together. The barrel is threaded into it like a center fire rifle not a separate lock and barrel as are most traditional MLs Its a single trigger but has a very clean light let off.
Its 54 cal but I dont know the twist. I tried a 420gn conical that we designed for the TC with 1/48" twist. It shot them good at 50 and 75 yards but poorly at 100. It shoots patched balls real good though.
I have very little experiance with ML compared to cartridge guns but since this is mine now I suspect I will be gaining some.
I would like to hear some about this lock if anyone recognises it.

[stubshaft]

IIrc - It's been a couple of years but there was someone who was making unfinished castings of that lock and selling it as a kit. I remember seeing it in the NMLRA magazine. It was a copy of a Wesson lock.

[Bullshop]

Thanks Stubshaft!
Not as much input as I thought I might get. My own opinion so far is that it seems a well made lock and I like it. It uses a single coil spring for power and is very fast having a short hammer fall.
I am thinking at some point I may make it a 45 or 50 cal long range slug gun.
It has a nice long upper tang for mounting a vernier sight. I have one of the long staff adjustable angle sights from Parts Unknown that should sit pretty on it.

[2152hq]

Looks like a custom rifle built w/the 'Allen Box Lock' action that Pecatonica sells.

...FWIW, they have a H&A type underhammer action for sale on the same page. Seems to be alot of interest in those here too.

http://www.longrifles-pr.com/actions.shtml

[gnoahhh]

If the conicals shot well up close but not at 100 yds., I would suspect it has a slow rate-of-twist intended for patched round balls. I would check that before getting too excited about making it a long range slug gun.

[Bullshop]

2152hq
You got it Pard! That is the one. See what it says there about the tang and long range?

gnoahhh
I think you missed the part where I said I would make it a 45 or 50 cal for long range.
In that event I will certainly use an appropriate twist. Thanks for the advice.

[stubshaft]

Wouldn't be too bad of a candidate for a chunk gun too.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I think it may be a MOWERY rifle made in the 70s probably till the mid-80s. They sold completed rifles, and separate actions with lots of options in wood, barrels, etc.. Just look at it, deep rifling, PATCH GUN, slow twist and shallow, like modern rifling, probably slug gun, faster twist.

Don't believe all the twist bull. A minie will usually shoot well even in a patch gun anywhere from 48 to 66 twist.

The barrels were fitted to a threaded breech plug made as part of the action front so it should be easy to rebarrel. Check with NMLRA, chunk guns and slug guns have parameters on aspects.

BvT

[Bullshop]

....Don't believe all the twist bull. A minie will usually shoot well even in a patch gun anywhere from 48 to 66 twist. ....

Then is it normal in a slower twist to see what I am seeing, very good at 50 yards, pretty good at 75 yards but coming unglued at 100 yards?
On average what I am seeing with a very short 420gn conical is about, 2" at 50, 4" at 75 but at 100 cant keep all in 12".
I can live with that though as my bear bait is about 30 yards from my stand.

[pietro]

Yep, it's a copy of the 1870's Frank Wesson rifle.

I had a repro in .45, with a cast alloy receiver, back in the 70's.

FWIW, the Mowrey rifles had a vastly different receiver, and a destinctive, massive cast buttplate, as below.

http://picturearchive.auctionarms.com/672086/7077048/b005aecb96fbb07345890820db84b789.jpg

.

[curator]

Allen, Wesson, & Burgess all made rifles with this design action in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The research I did indicated that Allen's factory (later Forehand & Wadsworth) made the castings and the others bought them semi-finished and assembled rifles and shotguns with them. Several recent-day parts replicators have supplied castings and even finished "actions" to modern muzzle loading rifle makers.

[Geraldo]

....Don't believe all the twist bull. A minie will usually shoot well even in a patch gun anywhere from 48 to 66 twist. ....

Then is it normal in a slower twist to see what I am seeing, very good at 50 yards, pretty good at 75 yards but coming unglued at 100 yards?
On average what I am seeing with a very short 420gn conical is about, 2" at 50, 4" at 75 but at 100 cant keep all in 12".
I can live with that though as my bear bait is about 30 yards from my stand.

Bullshop, I have also said not to just buy into the standard ideas of twist rate, but in regard to PRB. I've shot a lot of RB in a 1:28" .45 barrel with good results. However, I have not found the reverse to be true in my guns. I tried heavy conicals in my slow twist .58 and they didn't work well at all. With RB the barrel will shoot ragged holes, with conicals not so much.

What you're seeing is exactly what you think it is, a bullet that isn't stabilizing.

BTW that is a nice looking rifle you've got there.