pope and alex henry used virtually identical rifling styles. henry prefering the odd number of lands and grooves, [7], and pope the even number,[8]. they employed a completely flat cutter as opposed to one that follows the radius of the bore as todays conventional rifling does. this means the corners of the cutter start cutting first and work their way inwards until the cutter touches right at the apex of the bore's radius. kind of like dragging a hoe through a furrow with a radiused bottom, the corners will engage first until the hoe eventully bottoms out in the trough.....get it??? it also employs a wide cutter that leave a "pyramid" shaped land with a very narrow top, [approx. .015" wide]. this style of rifling worked well in muzzleloading form where paper patching is employed. pope also used a gain twist where as henry employed a constant twist....1:20 inches, i believe. both of these had a degree of taper to the bore as they would have been most likely "square" reamed, [ the most common method of the day], which produced a choke to the bore due to the shim wearing as the reamer was pulled or pushed through the bore. although popes barrels were very good, they are not necessarily better than that of george schoyen, a contemporary of pope. some believe that the gain was more of a "gimmick" of sorts to set pope apart. it was hard to reproduce, therefore giving pope a "mental" edge if nothing else. no slam on mr. pope, he certainly knew his salt...thanks..blue

I most disagree The differences between Pope and Henery rifeling are numerous. An illistration of both is in Roberts book Muzzle Loading Target Rifles. The differences are:
a.) The lands in Pope rifleing are thinner than Henery.
b.) The grooves in Pope rifleing are curved to the inside so that the high point of the curve supports the bullet.
c.) Most Popes were made with a gain twist. Henery rifleing is uniform twist. 
d.) The lands are generally much more pronounced in Henery rifleing.
e.) Pope rifleing is left hand twist Henery is right.
In general Henery rifleing has more in common with Metford rifleing than Pope.

40 Rod

If we were to assume that Pope's Rifling was better than others we could also assume that barrel makers would be making barrels on the Pope system.  The best shooting rifles we have today the 6PPC and 30BR do not use barrels that are gain twist or choke bored or even cut rifled I know its another ball game [modern benchrest] but if these type barrels were better we can be sure thats what they would be making. A good shooting barrel is a good shooting barrel.
                                                 leadball

Gentlemen - I have been following this thread with some interest - please let me quote from the book "Respectfully yours, H. M. Pope" Compiled & edited by Gerald O. Kelver fome some of Mr. Popes personal corespondence.
"The Pope system, so called, is, as previously stated, nearly the same as the Schalk, the difference being the shape of the cut, and that my barrels are cut to the correct shape, while Mr. Schalk's were leaded.  Mr. Scchalk's rifling had eight flat grooves and eight narrow lands, with sharp corners to lands.  My rifling has eight wide groves, which are on a radius about three times the radius of the bore, and has the corners rounded out, so dirt is easier removed, and it is cleaner to use.  This groove is cut just deep enoughto clean the bore in the center and give a depth at the corners of about .004 inch, which is about one-half depth of the Schalk, but which is of ample depth, and works cleaner, and leaves less to depend on the upset of the of the bullet, and is therefore more reliable."  There it is from the words of the "master" himself - you don't have to believe it - but he did.

Repectfully to all,  rimfire

For anyone who has the book The Muzzleloading Cap Lock Rifle by Roberts, on page 28 There are illistrations of 7 different types of rifleing. Center row far right shows a profile of Henery rifleing. Third row far right shows Pope's rifleing profile.The differences between the two seen aparent to me. Then you add the fact that Henery is a uniform twist with an odd number of grooves and Pope is gain twist with 8 grooves. The only thing they have in common is they are sperial grooved tubeing.
As far as Kreiger's advertising lumping Pope Shalk and Henery rifleing togeather to me is like saying all cars are the same because they have wheels. While Pope used Shalk's rifleing as a starting point he changed the profile to inprove the Shalk gain twist system.
As far as I know Kreiger makes a wonderful barrel but all their barrels are uniform twist which excludes them from being either the Pope or Shalk systems let alown the differences in the rifleing profile.

40 Rod

Unfortunatly me picture Juu Juu is bad on this site I have tried in the past and failed every time.
I can't be the only guy with this book. How bout a hand out there.

40 Rod