Pope-Ballard Schuetzen Rifle Barrel No. 236

When attending any sort of rifle match, I am always on the lookout for rifles of note. Of course, you will always see the usual Ballards, Sharps, Stevens and Winchester High Walls or sometimes an occasional Farrow or Bullard rifle. If luck is on your side, perhaps a Maynard will be on the line and once in a blue moon, you will observe a rifle that is a gem. While attending a match in Western Washington (the wet side) I chanced upon a Ballard with a Pope barrel and a complete “muzzleloading outfit,” as Pope referred to them.

“Mr. Harry,” the original owner of the Ballard rifle with Pope barrel No. 236, contracted directly with Harry Pope to outfit the rifle as we see it today. We do not know Mr. Harry’s last name. We do know he owned a fish hatchery in the Salt Lake City, Utah area and was also a regular on the Schuetzen shooting circuit. Large matches were certainly held in the Salt Lake City area, and the big San Francisco competitions were only a train ride away from his home.

Pope No. 236 is a muzzleloading outfit with all the original accouterments. Additional work was completed beyond barrel installation such as the modification of the triggers, re-stocking in birds-eye maple (perhaps by Pope), installation of Pope’s sights, and what appears to be a Pope-style palm rest. The bore of the rifle was in excellent shape and it was easy to see the left-hand twist, as well as the eight narrow lands and proportionally wider grooves. I tried very hard to see the radius within the bottom of the grooves, but even though the radius of the grooves is about three times the radius of the bore, my untrained eye was unable to make the distinction.

The rifle action is a pistol grip, flared, rebated frame Ballard with the two-line address stamping on the action reading – Marlin Fire Arms Co. New Haven CT. U.S.A. Ballard’s. Patent. Nov 5. 1861.

This would indicate the rifle was from the Marlin Ballard era from 1875 to 1890-91.¹ I would hazard a guess the rifle began as a No. 9 Union Hill, or perhaps No. 8, before the installation of the Pope barrel and re-stocking. However, it could have been based on any number of different Ballard models. The four-finger lever has been modified resulting in a pleasant grip. I prefer to not put my fingers in a “four-finger lever” but to wrap them around the outside of the lever. This modified configuration performs the function well and supplies a loop to insert the third finger if desired. The rifle’s serial number is 24662. The top of the barrel is stamped H.M. POPE. HARTFORD, CONN.

The rifle is chambered in 32-40 with a 32-inch long No. 4 octagon-to-round barrel. The numerical codes (21/1.41) for the Pope gain-twist rifling machine are stamped under the forearm. Of interest, is a mark of a star below the barrel number. Pope was known to purchase drilled and reamed barrels from the major gun companies, specifically Remington and Winchester. Perhaps the star is a proof mark or designation of the manufacturer.

A matching Pope mould for the .32-caliber barrel is still in the shooting kit and is of the appropriate size for the barrel, bearing the serial No. 236. In addition, the false muzzle and bullet starter are still in the shooting kit bearing the correct barrel number. Surprisingly, the original Pope seating rod, of the proper length, is with the rifle. A Pope bronze grease pump was also included with the purchase. At the risk of stating the obvious, this is a very complete Pope muzzleloading Schuetzen rifle.

Steve Fotou of western Washington, has owned this wonderful piece of history for many decades and was lucky enough to purchase the complete outfit from the wife of Mr. Harry’s nephew. Mr. Harry and his nephew had passed on and the wife desired to find a new home for the rifle. It makes me smile when I think of such a fine rifle being passed to a real rifleman and Schuetzen shooter. Steve competed for many years in the Schuetzen matches in Golden, Colorado, as well as, Raton, New Mexico. He is certainly the “real deal.”

There is still a small Schuetzen match held twice a year in Tacoma, Washington, at the Tacoma Rifle & Revolver Club. This range is Washington’s oldest shooting facility. Public competitions were held on the grounds long before the Washington Territory was admitted to the Union in 1889. I was attending this match and Steve was shooting the Pope in the competition. After talking to Steve and admiring the rifle, he suggested that I needed to shoot it. I jumped at the chance. In the interest of full disclosure, this is only the second Pope I have ever handled and I think I have only seen three or four others. The point is that I am probably the furthest thing from being a Pope expert; perhaps a “Pope neophyte” would be a more descriptive term.

My first observation was that operating a muzzleloading Schuetzen rifle is not a simple process. The first thing that is completed is to wipe the muzzle of grease from the prior shot before placing the false muzzle. A bullet is then seated within the false muzzle and the starter is used to push the bullet into the barrel muzzle past, what felt like, a choked bore. Once this is completed the rod can be easily used to seat the bullet to its final position. However, before removing the seating rod, it is necessary to give it a slight twist to ensure the seated bullet is left in position and not pulled up the barrel. After removal of the seating rod from the barrel, the rifle is placed on the bench. Steve uses a duplex measure that he built from a Lyman Ideal Powder Measure No. 55. Did I mention Steve is an accomplished machinist? The modified powder measure is used to throw the smokeless-duplex black powder charge as old Mr. Harry and Harry Pope did. And of course, as a final step, the charged case is carefully seated in the chamber behind the bullet.

I was extremely pleased at how tight the Ballard action was upon closing. It was as if it was new. I was not as surprised as I was going to be when I peered through the “iron sights.” The Pope’s rear sight has a lens that slides over the eye disc. This lens has been fabricated to fit the Pope’s rear sight and it fits like a glove. Within the front sight, there is also a lens along with a hooded pinhead sight. At this point, I discovered Pope No. 236 contained a bit of magic. I could see the target frames and targets through my left eye. As I moved the rested rifle to align with the red bull of the 25-ring Schuetzen target it was as if someone switched on a light while simultaneously moving the target 75 percent closer. The lens system within the iron sights was incredible. I have never experienced anything like it. Yes, it would be like a low-powered scope perhaps of three or four power. But, these were iron sights and it caught me completely off guard. I shifted the sights from the red bull to the frame multiple times to experience the visual improvement. In appearance, the pinhead sight was the same size as the white 1½-inch 25 ring. The correct hold was to place the pinhead slightly below the small white bull to form the number eight. The top of the number 8 is the 25 ring and the bottom is the pinhead. When Steve was competing in Schuetzen regularly, he would enter the Scope Class as required by the rules at the time.

The rifle has an original Pope rear sight. I have seen pictures but have never had the opportunity to see one in the flesh. This would probably be called a “short-stem” sight. Kelver identified a short-stemmed sight within his treatise as being a Stevens-Pope, while a longer-stemmed sight was a Hartford-Pope.3 Since the sight on this rifle would be considered a short-stem sight, this would imply a Stevens-Pope. I found this a bit confusing for a couple of reasons. First, the short-stemmed sight had knurled elevation adjustment wheels. This was only seen on early Hartford-Pope sights.2 Later the wheels were numbered as is seen in the later Stevens-Pope sights. Secondly, the tangent screw used to hold the sight to the base enters from the right side. All references and photographs show the tangent screw entering from the left side on the Stevens-Pope sights. To state it succinctly, early Pope sights appear to have both the windage adjustment and the base attachment screw on the right side.²

In his day, Harry Pope would supply a muzzleloader outfit for $50; this included the barrel with the false muzzle, bullet mould, bullet starter, grease pump, and seating rod. I am fairly certain this would include fitting the barrel. The price of $50 was referenced in a letter dated January 20, 1915.³ Using the Consumer Price Index as an inflator, the price at the end of 2022, would have been $1,449 for the Pope Muzzleloader outfit. If we consider the quality of the product and the other tools that make up the kit, I think it is a very fair, albeit slightly low, price. Given the opportunity today, I would certainly purchase one.

No doubt the Pope bullet mould was a precision piece of equipment. The mould was made to run hot, “at least 300 per hour and you will find them all good.”³ This confirms I am a complete hack when it comes to casting bullets. When casting, I use two moulds and can only generate 100 match-grade bullets per hour. Pope’s bullets seem to be of excellent quality. He once fired a series of 130 shots in 10-shot strings or groups. The largest group was 3.75 inches. The smallest group was 1.8 inches. All but two of the 130 shots would have cut a three-inch circle.³ Before you re-barrel your black powder cartridge rifle, or worse, remember these were muzzleloaded duplex loads that were shot by one of the old masters using the best of barrels.

2. Greatbatch, Warren and Rowe, Tom. Stevens-Pope 1901-1913 Vol. 1. Printed in China 2008

3. Kelver, Gerald O. Respectively yours, H.M. Pope. Robinson Press, Inc. Fort Collins, CO. 1976