I’ll take the .300 Dakota in the middle. But based on my Merkel K3 extreme in 30-06, I bet that little rifle rocks you pretty good. Totally awesome collection though.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson, 1776
Heavenly, simply heavenly. Were any featured in John Dutcher's Ballard book? I'm embarking on a Ballard #5 build (with an orphan action and a .32-40 Ron Long barrel I have salted away), and aspire to that quality but if I attain it is anybody's guess.
My only Pope barreled rifle is this .32-40 High Wall. His barrel #53, on the action it was originally fitted to in 1896, but with new wood in Winchester's Special target flavor by Steve Durren. (The original stock was swapped out for a poor facsimile by someone in the distant dark past.) It has been a real bugger to suss out the combination of bullet/powder it sings with (breach seated and/or muzzle/breach loaded, not uncommon with a Pope barrel).
Last edited by gnoahhh; 09/12/22.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
Wow, thats a very, very nice high wall. How's it shoot? Thanks for the kind words on my Ballards. Both of the Pope barrels are Hartford, can't remember the numbers. The bottom one in your picture is in Rowe's Hartford book. The top one is a muzzle loader like your high wall but I don't think the false muzzle is original since it isn't rifled. Phil
It'll slop ten into around 1 1/4-1 1/2" at 200, if the gods are smiling and the creek don't rise. Not offhand, for sure, rather the bench, with the barrel supported in a sled, using a 20x Targetspot. "Sniper" guys with state of the art gear kind of sneer at that - until I show them I'm doing it with a soft lead alloy plain base bullet, and a 125 year old barrel.
Last edited by gnoahhh; 09/12/22.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
I love it when that happens. I haven't shot either of my Pope's, I guess I should but I've got plenty of others to shoot. Probably the best shooting falling block I have is a high wall in 33-47 that Al Seigrest rebored for me. Phil
I love it when that happens. I haven't shot either of my Pope's, I guess I should but I've got plenty of others to shoot. Probably the best shooting falling block I have is a high wall in 33-47 that Al Seigrest rebored for me. Phil
Pope advertised that he guaranteed his barrels to shoot into 3" at 200 yards, when using fixed ammunition, 2 1/2" when breech seated (bullet inserted straight into the rifling ahead of a charged case), and 2" if muzzle-breech loaded (bullet pushed down the barrel from the muzzle and charged case inserted last). Again remember this was with plain base cast bullets and black powder. He was modest in some respects and headstrong in others, but in this instance I think he was being modest or at least hedging his bets as it was quite common -almost universal - that his barrels performed quite a bit better than his guarantee. The trick was in figuring out the load and shooting technique that worked. He would provide a mould that made a bullet that perfectly matched the bore of the barrel he sold you, and if the mould became separated from the rifle you had your work cut out for you - and dammit if 95% of Pope rifles that have survived no longer have their dedicated Pope moulds with them anymore. Kind of like selling a wildcat rifle today that shoots a truly unique one-off cartridge, and keeping the dies for it and selling them on eBay for a couple bucks. Why do people do that kind of nonsense?
I obviously don't have the original mould for my Pope 32-40. I had to go through four custom jobs from Accurate Molds before I hit upon the right combination of shape, weight/length, diameter, taper, and then I had to futz with different lead alloys and powder charges before I struck it rich.
Last edited by gnoahhh; 09/13/22.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
No flies on that old Cat Rifle! (Cat rifle was the generic name we gave such things as kids. Needless to say, stray cats didn't have a long life expectancy in our neighborhood.)
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
.30-40? Any markings on the barrel, either on top or under the wood? Pope invariably marked his stuff. In the event that any markings were removed, the rifling would be the clincher: Pope invariably utilized LH twist, and in the case of lead bullet target barrels was of a distinctive shallow groove design but high velocity .30 barrels got rifling more typical of "modern" forms. He made very very few barrels for jacketed bullet shooting.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
.30-40? Any markings on the barrel, either on top or under the wood? Pope invariably marked his stuff. In the event that any markings were removed, the rifling would be the clincher: Pope invariably utilized LH twist, and in the case of lead bullet target barrels was of a distinctive shallow groove design but high velocity .30 barrels got rifling more typical of "modern" forms. He made very very few barrels for jacketed bullet shooting.
I could not find any markings on the barrel, will have to examine the twist closer. I am reasonably certain the forearm is not original as it is checkered and the wood does not match. Also beavertail shape.
For those without thumbs, it's s Garden fookin Island, not Hawaii
Looked again, still no markings on the barrel, grins... ~22.5" barrel, 8 grooves/lands, RH twist. Suspect it's not a Pope, that's ok, wont feel so bad when I drag it around the woods looking for a moose, still need to get some blood on it.!
For those without thumbs, it's s Garden fookin Island, not Hawaii
1885 Low Wall that shipped in Oct., 1892 as a 25-20 with a #2 barrel. Went back to Winchester in 1908 and returned as a .22LR with a 30" #3 barrel. Weighs 10-4, all of it barrel, high grade wood, Scheutzen style buttplate (the Cody letter actually names this a Swiss buttplate with carved cheekpiece) , 3 leaf rear sight, tang sight, globe front sight, set trigger which I need to get adjusted, won't set.
I rest the barrel on a bag and I can get 2" at 50yds. Ultimate squirrel gun but you'd need a gunbearer.
Last edited by RecoilRob; 09/29/22.
"My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income."
1885 Low Wall that shipped in Oct., 1892 as a 25-20 with a #2 barrel. Went back to Winchester in 1908 and returned as a .22LR with a 30" #3 barrel. Weighs 10-4, all of it barrel, high grade wood, Scheutzen style buttplate, 3 leaf rear sight, tang sight, globe front sight, set trigger which I need to get adjusted, won't set.
I rest the barrel on a bag and I can get 2" at 50yds. Ultimate squirrel gun but you'd need a gunbearer.
Beautiful rifle RR!! I really like the 1885s - have one similar to yours that was customized by Frank Zika (a fellow that was a well known single shot smith) it was made in 1887 and he turned it into a “Schuetzen” style .22 I’m guessing some time in the 70s? - it shoots great and like yours is very heavy (but balances out of proportion to its weight).
Here's my Stevens 414 Armory, 22. It's a blast shooting little chips left from clay pigeons. Had my Daughter and SIL at camp. When we had broken all the pigeons my SIL started down with new ones. I said leave those up here, we're not done yet. My Daughter said there are no more targets? I said see those orange chips on the board? She said, you can't hit them. I said I can, can you. First shot and she vaporized one. Love to teach new shooters to aim at small targets, to hit small targets.
Beautiful rifle! Where did the bullet impact, and what was the damage like?
210 yards, through the heart. Unspectacular as far as bullet performance, a cast 405 grain bullet at 1200 fps just pokes a 45 caliber hole. The bigger the meplat, the better the effect.
It is a Shiloh 1877 with presentation wood and a 5 year wait.
Been a member here for 15 yrs. but mostly just look, and rarely post. I'm pretty much only a single shot collector, and almost exclusively Ballard rifles, Rolling Blocks, and Hepburn rifles. I do have one Sharps, and original sold to Gove in Denver, Co. in Feb. 1880 and reworked by Freund. It's a .50-140 chamber, and weighs 16 lbs.
Some of my others. Cased George C Schoyen rifle in .32-40:
Couple other Schoyens, top in .38-55 with false muzzle, and lower in .32-40. And some related tools from Schoyen-Peterson.
Hepburn Match B in .32-40.
Deluxe #9 Ballard in .38-55 factory Ulrich engraved.
#6 Ballard with early Unertl scope.
Original Remington Creedmoor prototype made a year before they were cataloged. Chambered in .44-77BN.
Ballard #3 presentation rifle in .22L. Given to then Lt. Charles Phillips from the men of the 4th Maine Artillery, Hamden Rifles. Later retired after 43 years as a Brigadier General. [img]https://i.imgur.com/TE9RBrjl.jpg?1[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/gvJw40xl.jpg[/img]
Pope-Ballard 3 barrel cased set with Winchester scope, Pope tools, barrels in .32-40, .28 Pope Special, and .22WCF. Owned by Denver Rifle Club team shooter LG Priddy in the early 1900's. [img]https://i.imgur.com/FqkR1xgl.jpg[/img]
Ballard Stevens-Pope-Bresien custom. Fitted with Stevens-Pope .22LR barrel originally, and later after it was shot out rebored and rifled by Ken Bresien in 1982 to .32-40. With Unertl scope. [img]https://i.imgur.com/rBySgRol.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/UDElB7Ql.jpg[/img]
Stevens Favorite, Model of 1915, with 24-3/4” Green Mountain barrel and Black Nitride treated steel. Unfortunately, I used a sporting chamber reamer instead of match. Still shoots pretty darn good, though maybe coulda been even better.
No, it's a Gove-Freund Bros. Gove also did these conversions to add the wiping rod under the barrel. Freund Bros. did numerous improvements to Sharps 1874 models including a camming breech block, dual extractors, two piece firing pin, and hammer that lifted so the Sharps didn't have to go to half cock prior to opening the lever. This Freund-Sharps has all the improvements, and has George Freund's Durango, co. stamp on the receiver.
marlinguy, that is quite a collection. Beautiful rifles! I am more than a little envious. Do you ever shoot some of them?
I have a couple dozen Ballards, and about the same number of Remingtons, and I make ammo for all of them, and shoot all of them. Mostly long range, or schuetzen 200 yd., but I've taken a number of deer with some of them also.