doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com New barrel surprise

Thanks Bob. I got an email from a former member saying a new Pope book was in the works - I look forward to it. I bought the Ray Smith book. "Sincerely HM Pope" is really expensive. Is Tom Rowe on this forum?

I have a number of Pope barrels on '03 Springfields that were for jacketed bullets and they are all right hand twist while his single shot lead bullet rifles are left hand twist. They all have Pope's markings on the bottom of the barrel, an example is:
650
WL
HT
14/0
3/5/24
H M Pope

My take on the caliber marking is the barrel was originally something like 30-06 and when it was rechambered, they added this caliber marking. None of my jacketed bullet Pope barrels have a caliber marking on them.

I agree, that makes sense. The barrel was probably rechambered and the caliber so noted.

Tom isn’t a double gun collector so I doubt he has ever joined. I don’t think I have ever seen anything other than single shot rifles in his collection. He is on the ASSRA forum if you are a member there. I’m in the process of stocking one of his unusual Ballards right now. If you want to talk with him, PM me and I will give you his number. He is always willing to talk.
Bob

Pope did indeed make barrels for bolt action rifles, and also for pistols. The marking on your barrel is likely from his later years in the Colgate Building in Jersey City, NJ. The two numbers under the forearm are not what you see on earlier barrels, but his earlier barrels were also left hand twist. I'd guess one of those is Pope's barel number, and likely it's the higher of those two. His later barrels were also done as right hand twist, so not unusual to find a RH twist Pope barrel in later years.
This is a really great find, and better than almost any other named maker's barrels. Well worthy of a nice Mauser action to fit it to. I have 5 Pope barreled rifles, and one Remington Model 1891 target pistol Pope barreled and modified for Olympic shooting. Top pistol in this picture. Bottom is an Arthur Hubalek built version:

Had a great conversation with Tom Rowe who is about to publish his two volume set of books on Pope. Turns out this is barrel 622, made as a 30-06 for a Mauser. He had a record of 621 and 623 which were also 30-06's for Mausers, but 622 was missing - now found. How cool is that.

I asked him about the barrel steel used at that time and he said "Soft". What do others have in the way of input on shooting their Pope barrels? Do you use jacketed bullets in your 03's? Do you avoid shooting them at all? Do you shoot them frequently?

Thanks for everyone's help.

I would only ask you Ryan one question, do you want to preserve it? If the answer is yes then shoot light loads with lead bullets. Why test fate? No matter what jacketed will wear it more and once worn it is worn. No going back! You get to chose. I know how I would choose. I have lots of other things to shoot.

I tend to agree. No reason not to make it a lead bullet rifle. I can get some fired cases and have a reamer made for a shooter.

I have no Pope barreled rifles that are in high velocity cartridges, so never even considered jacketed bullets in mine. Nothing but cast lead, and my highest velocities with smokeless powders are all under 1500 fps. But I shoot all my old rifles no matter which famous maker's barrels are on them. I have Pope, Schoyen, Peterson, Hubalek, Zettler, Bremer, etc., and love shooting them all.