Vall, if the number appears as a true fraction, 21/141 or 21 over 141 in close proximity you are correct. I have seen them stamped in both way's. This is Pope's number for identifying his rifling setup. There have been many interpretations of how to read the numbers. But I am not sure anyone really knows. The other number which should be standing alone is his job or barrel number. Regards, FITZ.

Thank you Fitz and Bob! This gun is not in my posession, but rather in a family that is requesting info on it prior to sale. (An offer has already been made!) I was asked to give some insight on it, because of my interest in Ballards, and was quite surprised to see the "HM Pope" name on the top of the barrel. 
It is not a Stevens Pope, but appears to be a Pope barrel that once resided on a Winchester, as the forearm looks like an 1885, and the barrel has been set back (I believe) when it was installed on this Ballard #9 Union Hill. On removing the forearm I saw where the forearm screw once was, and the barrel is 27" long, which seemed an odd length. My guess was they cut the old threads off, rethreaded it, and rechamberd it for the Ballard, then retapped the hole for the forearm.
It also has a Winchester globe front, and Pope tang sight, and buttplate.

Thanks again!-Vall

I forgot to add that the Pope rifle and the Ron Smith rifle are both 32-40s.

Bob

Val,

This information is secondhand, I saved it some time ago.  It seemed plausible at the time.  The link to it is:

Popes secret code was given on this link as follows:

To my knowledge, what you are now going to read has never been published or written: 

Dave,
Thanks so much for this great link! This is very good information! 
I went to the Shiloh forum and read the entire post, and Kevin's remarks around this topic were both informative, and sad. It's hard to imagine Harry Pope's family having a bonfire and destroying documents that would mean so much today, and in the future!-Vall

maybe I'm just ignorent, about gain twist barrels, but somthing strikes me as odd.  Shootng a breeachloaded projectile in a gain twist makes a bit of sense as you start out with a slow twist and accelerate the twist rate as the bullet goes down the tube;  although velocities and lead temper would have to be carefully regulated to avoid overdriving the twist and stripping the lead.

however how would it possibly work with false muzzle loading--seems to me you'd be pushing the slug thorugh that changing twist twice and it would already be well buggered up before you ever touched the trigger,  it isn't like you can screw it in with the ramrod and then unscrew it with the powder charge.

OR--were the gain twist barrels a post-false muzzle loading thing?

EVERYONE KNOWS A GAIN TWIST WILL NOT SHOOT FOR ##$%^@&