Mowery ?

[Boaz]

Does anyone own a Mowery rifle ? I'v had this one a good while and enjoyed it , good shooting rifle . You usta see them around a lot but I haven't seen any in quite a while . If you ever owned one what was your opinion of it ?

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g353/chuckr1952/MOWERY001.jpg (http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/chuckr1952/media/MOWERY001.jpg.html)

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g353/chuckr1952/MOWERY002.jpg (http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/chuckr1952/media/MOWERY002.jpg.html)

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g353/chuckr1952/MOWERY003.jpg (http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/chuckr1952/media/MOWERY003.jpg.html)

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g353/chuckr1952/MOWERY004.jpg (http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/chuckr1952/media/MOWERY004.jpg.html)

[bubba.50]

don't know anything about it but it's sure neat lookin'. is that fore-arm solid brass?

[johnson1942]

friend of mine has one. loves it. wish i would have bought one way back when

[Boaz]

bubba.50 the forearm is not solid , it's flat brass that's been formed . They also came with wood forearms . They were a reproduction of an Allen lockbox made in the 1840's .
Thanks for the compliments . Thought someone else might still have one on the forum , back in the 70's and 80's there were a lot of them around . Deer creek ended up with the rights to the Mowery name , they made them for a while but the BP craze slowed down so they quit making them and now they still have parts .

[Boz330]

I always like the looks and wish that I had gotten one from Deer Creek before they discontinued them. Only so many dollars though.

Bob

[Hanshi]

Many years ago they were for sale in my hometown at an upscale store. I much admired them and wanted one but $$ got in the way. It was a high quality rifle, accurate and attractive. If you have one you have a keeper.

[TenTea]

My best friend bought a used one circa early 1990's from an old musketeer.
Mowrey was still in business in TX, I think.
A neat rifle but he had trigger problems and I always suggested he send it in for a look see, but to no avail.
I think he still has it, but has never fired it.
He was hellbent on shining it up with Brasso, so I helped him with the job...looking back, it was a mistake to remove all that nice patina.

[Tatume]

I have a 36 caliber Mowrey. The buttstock and fore end are matching tiger-striped hard maple. It is a very nice squirrel rifle.

Take care, Tom

[Janoosh]

I've got two...both .45 cal...one of them I call my $300 crowbar...that's about how accurate it is. ..the other is... OK..at 50 yds...both have really nice wood. .ask Maven about his...

[Maven]

I've got two...both .45 cal...one of them I call my $300 crowbar...that's about how accurate it is. ..the other is... OK..at 50 yds...both have really nice wood. .ask Maven about his...

I still have mine (.50cal.). In fact I used it to complete Pat Iffland's [CBA] July ML postal match a few weeks ago. The wood is as described above and the fit and finish are quite good as well. It is very accurate and fits me better than most BP rifles. However, the sight dovetails are not quite square to the bore/bbl. and were a tad loose. (Talk about a wandering zero!) I replaced both sights last summer and am once again happy with the rifle. Btw, mine was made by Deer Creek Products in IN.

[Boaz]

They were first made in Iowa Park TX , Bill Mowery had a big machine shop operation , the oilfield was booming and business was good . He started building the guns there . He came up with health problems and took in partners , they moved the gun operation to Olney TX , about 50 miles south. He and the partners had a falling out because they wanted to drop the quality of the guns and speed up production , Bill Mowery took pride in the guns that bore his name and refused to comprimise .
The Olney partners lost their dealers that Mowery had built up by honest hard work , the business was in a mess . Deer Creek bought what was left of the company . Deer Creek are good folks ., have delt with them for years .

[John Taylor]

Someone gave me what was left of a Mowery. It has a cast iron frame that appears did not fill out all the way in the casting process.

[Boz330]

They were first made in Iowa Park TX , Bill Mowery had a big machine shop operation , the oilfield was booming and business was good . He started building the guns there . He came up with health problems and took in partners , they moved the gun operation to Olney TX , about 50 miles south. He and the partners had a falling out because they wanted to drop the quality of the guns and speed up production , Bill Mowery took pride in the guns that bore his name and refused to comprimise .
The Olney partners lost their dealers that Mowery had built up by honest hard work , the business was in a mess . Deer Creek bought what was left of the company . Deer Creek are good folks ., have delt with them for years .

The old guy who use to own Deer Creek has sold out a couple years ago from what I understand. He use to make the barrels and parts in house. At one time he had 28 people working for him turning out guns and kits. At the end he had a couple part time people that helped out.
He sold out his 2 rifling machines several years ago because I had asked about a custom barrel and he offered to hook me up with the buyer. Problem is that it isn't the machine but the operator that makes good barrels.
I'm not sure how the new guys are doing since I mostly use to go there for powder and the new owners upped the price to the point that I can order it from Powder Inc cheaper and not have drive so far to get it.

Bob

[johnson1942]

your right about his barrels, i built 3 kits in .50 cal 1/60 twist and they would cut center every time at 100 yards. i modified the kits some to put my own spin on them. my friend and rural neighbor liked them so much that he bought both of them. the other one a friend bought then later he gave it to his pastor. if they made those kits again in the quality they had before i would like to build another one.

[Boz330]

your right about his barrels, i built 3 kits in .50 cal 1/60 twist and they would cut center every time at 100 yards. i modified the kits some to put my own spin on them. my friend and rural neighbor liked them so much that he bought both of them. the other one a friend bought then later he gave it to his pastor. if they made those kits again in the quality they had before i would like to build another one.

I have one of the underhammers in 50 cal and it shoots very well with 100gr of 3F. I couldn't get anything lighter to shoot worth a darn.

Bob

[KCSO]

Delt with Mowrey in its several incantations years go. The problem was variable quality, one gun would be a OK and the next would be junk. My wife shot a 36 Mowrey for years with perfect sucess, my son got one and the barrel was so rough you couldn't shoot it. A buddy got a mowrey shotgun and the fore end pin went through the barrel. We called Mowery # 3 and were told that it was a Mowery #2 gun and they would not warrenty the gun. That's when we gave up on the Mowery's. Sice then I have repaired or rebarreled sever of the guns and had several more that the owners wouldn't give up for anything. The biggest weak spot is the curved mainspring that will occasionaly fail, they are very hard to get. If you can find a spare buy it now just to have in reserve.

[Boaz]

Well Mowery is about the same as most guns , some like em and some don't , LOL . KCSO is right about the spring , they get weak over time . I have retempered the one in my rifle twice by wrapping it in tin foil, floating it on molten lead for about 30 minutes, then dropping it in motor oil to quench it. It lasts a good while before you have to retemper it.

[Tatume]

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. Spring be weak and lock work trouble; Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

The incantation that put Mowrey out of business. :-)

(With apologies to William Shakespeare)