With Stevens-Pope .22 Barrel. Not our typical single shot but a single shot pope. Any idea what these are worth today? Looking at one and not sure. Wood is decent. Metal browning. Bore supposed to be mint. The last one I saw on GB I think went in the $2000 range. Thoughts on this one? It would fit nicely between my Stevens collection and my military .22 Trainer collection.

1015

That helps. External metal condition is decent for the age but definitely not mint. Wood is decent. Comes with sling and peep site. Think I am going to take it if it is still available. Been looking for something Pope for years and this seems to be about the low end for anything of his.

One just sold about a month ago over on nitroexpress. It's on the first page of the classified section near the bottom. May not be quite what you're thinking about, but looked to me like a very interesting rifle.

The gun came in today. Stock forearm was shortened to just in front of the barrel band. I checked out the bolt mounted peep sight in Strobel's book and it is a Rice. Shows a 1939 catalog photo and a $2.50 price. The barrel was $20 in the 1902 Stevens-Pope catalog. Bore looks pristine which was my primary concern. I will post some photos when I get time. Neat piece of history. It has a neat period sling that is intact but showing its age. Any suggestions as to what to use on the leather to preserve it without doing harm? Pecards has been suggested in the past and I have some but have never used it yet. Comments on leather preservative that won't do harm?

The Rice was a pretty much ho-hum sight intended for all the old Krags that were chopped up into hunting rifles.  Much, much better contemporary receiver sights are the Pacific and the Redfield (and maybe Marble's) "no drill" types adjustable for windage & elevation.  With these, you remove the magazine cutoff.  The receiver sights fit into the cutoff slot.  IIRC, they sell for about $100 and are not too difficult to find.

Back in the day, some who shot the Krag with the Stevens-Pope barrels would remove the magazine side plate.  That let the empties fall out the left side.  With the side plate left in place, the empties might fall part way into the magazine opening and get caught between the magazine follower and the bolt.   

A few years back, I messed about with a Krag Model 1898 Gallery Practice Rifle.  The stock had been replaced and the magazine flip open door and all the innards removed.  Empty cases fell into the space where the Krag cartridges used to reside.  To remove them, you turned the rifle upside down and shook it like a piggy bank.  If you are old enough to remember piggy banks.

The big questions about the Stevens-Pope Krag barrels are "how many were made?" and "how many were bought by the military?" and "what happened to them?".  Those who gather such knowledge tell me that there are about 15 surviving specimens known (only 2 carbine length) and that they seem to be serial numbered along with the rest of the Stevens-Pope rifles.   

Back in the day, the S-P Krag barrels had a major impact on military marksmanship training in the US.  Springfield Armory built 883 Model 1898 Gallery Practice Rifles in 1907-1908 to replace the S-P barrels.  That is what leads to my questions.

If you have a chronograph, it would be very interesting to see what the velocity is when it exits and compare with a 24" or under barrel.

Frank

The one I am looking at has some of the adapters with it. I am aware of the fact that it is more of an oddity and collector item than a target gun. The Springfield M1 and M2 Trainers are a different story. My M2 is a great shooter.