i bet they are making similar barrel quality if you choose to pay the price   just my opinion   art

Pope's rifling was a refinement of George Schalck's rifling. Pope's rifling profile made his barrels well suited for muzzle loading which allowed dirty shooting (not cleaning between shots) with straight black powder and duplex loads. This was a perfect fit for the Schuetzen game back in the 1895-1915 era. By the time good smokeless powders became available, the golden years of Schuetzen had passed - therefore no real need for muzzle loading nor Pope's rifling profile.

Tom makes an excellent point. If you're selling almost exclusively to top shooters, then the results posted for your barrels will likely be better average than other barrels sold to anyone who wanted to order from another maker.
Pope barrels were great, and many still are. But not everything he did was proven to really make a significant advantage over others. The left hand twist for instance hasn't been proven to be better. If it was, every barrel maker would be offering left hand twist barrels. But almost all offer right hand twist, so doubt it makes a difference.
The shallow depth of rifling is something many barrel makers felt helped accuracy, as they felt it disturbed the bullet less than deep grooves did. How Pope and others designed the shape of their cutter was unique to each maker, but although each was a bit different, there were a number of them that worked great. But not all were as well known simply because they didn't all promote themselves as well.

In order to allow for the inability of having a perfect bullet start from stationary to over 1000 fps about instantly, and perfectly follow the turns of the rifling, and all of the other factors of launching a chunk of lead accurately (and repeatably) at a circle on a piece of paper at a distance of 40 rods, Pope, along with his contemporaries did everything as accurately as possible.  To get past the things he couldn’t overcome with accurate machinery he utilized Schalk style rifle grooves to hold the bullet and impart spin to it with as little upset and distortion as possible.  In addition he used gain twist so as the bullet went through the barrel and accelerated, it was distorted less.  Also he used left hand twist and a tapered bore to ensure that each bullet was made to go through the barrel and leave the muzzle as perfectly and consistently as possible. Supposedly he opined that if you eliminated as many variables and did everything as accurately and consistently as possible, you’d have an accurate shot each time. 

With current barrel steels and modern boring machinery, it would follow that if gain twist and a slight internal taper in the bore are utilized, you should be able to produce by machine what HMP did so laboriously by hand.  Of course all manufacturing has tolerances, so you will still get some good barrels, a few very good barrels and one or two outstanding barrels from each batch.  For best results, get one of those one or two! 

Froggie

PS  The jury is still out on RH vs LH twist… apparently it really doesn’t make that much difference or, as someone already observed, more barrel makers would be using it. 

I am familiar with Pope's methods and cutters and it took 5 to 10 times the number of passes vs cut rifling (balanced scrapers vs single point hook). What would that cost at todays labor prices? His method simply did not make duds. So statistically almost all of his barrels where good. You all remember the earlier days of button barrels which where cheaper but statistics where against you getting a good one. Now the technology has been improved so that the statistics are now really in your favor of getting a god one.

Charles

ssdave wrote on Sep 29^th, 2022 at 11:50am:


I'm another heretic and agree with you!

My dad, who was an extremely fine machinist, used to say that too many never learn how to fully use the tools they have.  Clearly he wasn't referring to Harry Pope.

Bill Lawrence

Have made a few barrels. Could make muzzle loader barrels that were better than I could buy.
Single shot barrels are a different story. All mediocre, about 1 1/2 inches.
Tools are slightly more crude than Mr. Pope used. Reaming is the tough issue. Easy to get too much taper in the bore.
Bottom line is it took about three weeks to make a barrel that I could buy for $300 and not any better.
Could probably work out the bugs, but mighty poor wages.
Chuck

All most informative, and I appreciate the time and trouble to answer my question. As a post script , I bought a 40 cal. Krieger bbl in stainless 31" long and 1,1/4" in diameter. As it is to go onto an Husqvana roller, whose action I will get colour cased, I will get the bbl. ceracoted in a rich blue  and hope it looks appropriate, timber hopefully to come from Treebone.

But if you ever felt the pulsing of a Ferrari-Colombo V-12 in your chest you would never opt for the Subaru (cost and availability be darned). Precision only goes so far and then it's a matter of what makes your heart sing!

If we all were merely pursuing accuracy we would be shooting the latest most advanced bolt action benchrest rifles, but they don't have the "soul" of a 120 year old single shot do they? Since we are straddling two different cultures - pure accuracy and vintage single shots - we find ourselves employing the best barrels we may, be they vintage ones from the likes of Shalck, Pope, Shoyen, Peterson, et al, or the likes of modern artists. The result is guns that are way more interesting/fun (to us, anyway).

That Subaru WRX will provide an exhilarating ride (a local buddy drives one and I can personally attest to that) but it pales in the way a vintage Ferrari/AC Cobra/etc. will suffocate all your senses.

Here ya go.

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Read description:

serial #26538 (Rifle No.22), 22 LR, 30" tapered full-octagon Pope-rifled barrel by Ron Smith with a bright excellent bore. This is an absolutely wonderful offering from Classic Arms Corporation of California once again, utilizing some of the top craftsmen in their fields. A faithful duplication of the Marlin Ballard Model 3F "Gallery" offhand Schuetzen target rifle with accessories and beautifully cased. The barrel retains 99% original blue showing only a few odd light scratches on the right barrel flat just at the front sight. The frame, breechblock, fancy Schalk finger rest lever and hammer exhibit all of their wonderful vibrant color case-hardening, one small flaked spot on the left side of the frame which is unobtrusive. The deeply hooked-style Schuetzen butt has all of its original blue and has small sprays of excellent quality floral scroll at heel and toe. The frame features near full coverage exceptional intertwining scroll engraving with the finest background stippling offsetting the swirls, done by E. L. Peters. The rifle is stocked by James Tucker in highly figured Circassian walnut with a high comb Schuetzen butt with left-side cheekpiece and s-curved pistolgrip, a wonderful schnabel forend with widow’s peak-style horn tip, and detachable knob-style palm rest, all rating excellent to as-new, the buttstock with a tiny rack or handling mark here or there. They feature flawlessly executed checkered panels at the grip, bottom of the pistolgrip and of course forend. The action functions perfectly mechanically and the arm is equipped with double set triggers. Sighted with a globe style front sight with interchangeable inserts (not included), no rear seat, with a beautiful fire-blued Pope tang sight adjustable for windage and elevation with multi-position aperture. The barrel is milled for Pope scope mounts dovetailed directly in the left and right diagonal flats, and the arm comes with a Montana Vintage Arms 6x period-style target scope with fine duplex-style reticle with tiny center circle and bright excellent optics, the scope rating as-new itself. The rifle is beautifully cased in full-length Jatoba wood and leather trunk case by Ray Sterck, with square crystal oil bottle, horn-handled turnscrew, and cleaning rod, set in a very attractive navy blue baize lining with Classic Arms label on the interior lid. The case itself rates about excellent with a few very minor handling marks on the lid, and a very nic