The main problem is that Stevens's factory records no longer exist.  Also, the company did not put out a catalog every year and the catalogs are not always dated.  Finally, I do not have a complete run of original Stevens catalogs and the Cornell reprints are sometimes suspect.  Therefore, here's the best I can do.

According to Pope himself, “In 1901 the Stevens Arms Company bought me out and from the first of May of that year I made the rifles that bear the name ‘Stevens-Pope.’ I made all of those that are numbered under about 1250.", leaving Stevens "... on the last day of December, 1905".

According to Tom Rowe, "Pope left at about S/N 1237. While he was with Stevens he was a supervisor, not a bench hand and actually 'made' very few barrels. He oversaw the men that did."

The most noteworthy of "the men that did" was Pope's main assistant, Fred Ross.  Ross continued to work for Sevens and the company continued to offer its renowned "Stevens-Pope" barrels until, reputedly, Pope threatened a suit in 1907 or 1908.

Therefore, my best guess is that 1906 and likely 1907 were the last years barrels marked "Stevens-Pope" were made.

However, just to further muddy the waters, in Catalog No. 53 dated 1911, though without any mention of Pope, Stevens was still offering the tang sight, powder flask and lubricating pump that Pope developed, as well as the de-recapper that has long been associated with Pope but was not actually his "invention".

Bill Lawrence

I have a highwall with a Stevens-Pope barrel numbered 1842.

marlinguy wrote on Apr 16^th, 2021 at 9:59am:


Left hand

Yet another question:  What year and catalog number are these scans from?

In Catalogue No. 53, was the Krag replacement barrel in .22 rimfire listed?

No. Catalog No. 53 from 1911 does not list these barrels.

HOWEVER, more closely studying that catalog revealed that Catalog No. 53 not only still listed the formerly Pope-associated accessories noted above, but also "breech loading" barrels and "muzzle loading outfits" for the "Stevens-Pope System".  The "outfit" included a false muzzle, starter, ramrod, mould, and lubricator pump.  The real question, of course, was whether such barrels were still separately serial-numbered and still stamped "Stevens-Pope".  My own guess is "yes" for the former and "no" for the latter; and yet again I dearly wish that the company's records still existed.

Bill Lawrence

Cornell publications lists two Stevens-Pope specialties catalog reprints, a 1902, and a 1905. I only have the 1905.
 
With the Stevens catalog #53, 1911, Steven’s focus seems to switch to shotguns. The re-boring services, and new made barrels for other makes of single shot rifles, disappeared from the catalog.

Yes, the Krag .22 barrels were indeed stamped "Stevens-Pope".  But like waterman, I've always assumed they had their own serial number range, and have actually read that claimed more than once, as well as that considerably more than 600 were made.

One can also look at it this way.  Since roughly 1250 Stevens-Pope barrels were made between early 1901 and the end of 1905, their serial numbers go at least as high as the low 1800s, and 1907 is assumed to be the "official" last year for barrels so marked, their production rate works out to a more or less consistent 300-350 barrels per year.  So, I'd venture that either the .22 Krag barrels accounted for almost all of the post-1905 production or they did indeed have their own serial number range.

Which also, again, brings up the question about how the "Stevens-Pope System" barrels advertised in the company's 1911 catalog were marked and numbered, assuming that any were in fact made that late.

Does anyone, for example, have or know of a Stevens-Pope-barreled rifle with an action that has a serial number high enough to put its production well past 1907?

Bill Lawrence