rkba2nd wrote on Aug 13
th, 2021 at 3:38pm:
Longevity, and self promotion has a lot to do with it, and not meant to take anything away from the man. Both are a good thing! There is a very good article in the 1971 Gun Digest by John Dutcher regarding the barrel maker George Schoyen, and his successor Axel Peterson and his son. There are also a number of good articles about Axel Peterson in the American Rifleman.
Couldn't agree more as to the reason for Pope's notoriety. Considering he started later than many of the other great barrel makers, and great custom single shot rifle makers. But lived into the mid 20th Century, well beyond the others.
In addition Pope was a prolific writer, and often wrote of his greatness in a matter of fact style. I too wont take anything away from how great Pope was at barrel making. But considering how much better the others were at doing the entire gun, yet still make extremely accurate barrels; they're higher on my list as all around great gunsmiths; vs. just great barrel makers.
Pope of course built other items besides barrels, and his accessories like scope rings, molds, etc. were all excellent quality. But in such limited production, because Pope seemed to always fall back on what he liked doing most; great barrels.
Great gunsmiths, and barrel makers like Schoyen, AW Peterson, Zischang, etc. seemed to be very modest, or at least let their work speak for them, rather than write about themselves.
And with the way Lucian Carey exalted Pope and his work, there's no wonder anything he wanted Pope to build got pushed ahead of everyone else!