doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com For you Schuetzen Folks!

This is a H.M. Pope Ballard breech-muzzle-loader made when he was located in Hartford, Connecticut the Pope number is 373. The caliber is 33-40, a .32-40 re-bore with all the original tools. The buttstock was made by A.P. Kessel. I bought this rifle from a friend about 25-30 years ago, for what at the time, seemed like a lot of money. It took me over a year to pay it off. I don’t shoot it a lot nowadays but the bore is still perfect and will do the job if you do your part.

Wow! You don't see many complete Pope outfits.Very nice.I wonder what someone thought they had when they went through their fathers or grandfathers stuff and came up with a false muzzle or other accessories they weren't familiar with? Hopefully they recognized the quality and did not just throw it out.

A famous Pope lube pump no less. Pretty cool stuff.

And you don't even shoot it? Michael, you have too many guns :):)

Here's Pope's competitor's gun, the Schoyen Ballard. In .38-55, with Winchester A5 scope.

And another from the Zettler Bros. A .22 short, with Stevens scope and a set of HM Pope rings and bases.

Nice, Schoyen made some great guns, I've read a lot on the Zettler Bros. but don't think I've seen one of their guns. The .22 short was very popular back then. Was it the Zettler gallery where they held the championships for the .22 at 75'? I have a Niedner .22 Short on a Stevens 44-1/2 we can talk about at a later date. I've been looking for a Ballard No.6 action with little luck and now seeing them everywhere.

Thanks for sharing,

It would help if I looked at my picture a bit closer, that lube pump was made in New York but I can't remember the maker. My Pope pump is with another gun.

I shoot almost all smokless these days and my experience with the Pope is it's very temperamental with smokless but very dependable with duplex (smokless-black) whereas my Niedner-Ballard has no such temperament they get shot a lot more.

Yes, Zettler Bros. had a big indoor range in New York City, and drew crownds from all over the East Coast for money matches. They were both very active in local politics back then, and I believe Barney ran for alderman, or burrough rep., or something like that.

Not a Pope lube pump? Hmm, well it was my best guess. Does this one work the same way so it can do tapered bullets without making a huge mess? That was the big deal about the Pope pump if I recall correctly.

Brent

Yes that's how they work and they do a good job if your lubing your bullets at the shooting bench. After more than thirty years with a schuetzen I strictly pan-lube.