Gotta tell somebody! in The C&R Sporting Arms Forum Forum

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Plain Old Bill	Gotta tell somebody!	Lead	[-]
Posts: 2553 Oct 19 12 6:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None Was feeling a little down about Neil and another friend who had passed recently, so I went to an auction...a gun auction, of course (what else?). Bought a 30-pound paperweight Model 52 - a HUGE hunk of steel and walnut- that had seen better days. Bore was clogged, recoil pad falling off, rusty, etc. Had mounts for a very, very long telescopic sight long obsolete...I was thinking of salvaging the action, it went very, very cheap. Someone even giggled. Started cleaning it up the other night...the walnut was definitely something to see, once all the grime was off it. It's about half a tree. The bore cleaned up very well- once the spiders were evicted. The interior rust was more a dusting, hadn't pitted at all yet. Looked a little strange...could that be a gain twist? Nah...then I started looking at the barrel itself. Degrimed, I was finally able to see the small lettering on top of the barrel...."H.M. POPE". Good Lord! I turned it over, and sure enough, those mysterious numbers Mr. Pope always placed on the bottom of the barrel were there. I had bought a Winchester Model 52 with a POPE barrel! I guess I'll take it to the range tomorrow without sights and function check it. After that...well, looks like a project. I really hadn't planned on it, but looks like this one's going to get restored. I have a feeling this is going to get expensive!
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trautert		#1	[-]
Posts: 5717 Oct 19 12 11:36 PM Forum Site Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't normally give my guns names, but I think you have a sign there. Excellent find. Tom Ne Desit Virtus Rakkasans
Plain Old Bill		#2	[-]
Posts: 2553 Oct 20 12 8:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The Model 52 was made in 1936. I took it out to the range today to put a dozen rounds through it, and it is fully functional with a very tight chamber. I guess to restore it I'd need to redo the stock after adding a buttplate or pad, then refinish the barrel and action. After that, it would be a Unertl or Lyman scope to make it period-correct. I just cannot believe someone had stuck this in a corner. Tom, you may be right about naming this one. Let's see if I can do a good enough job of restoration to make it worthy....
Plain Old Bill		#3	[-]
Posts: 2553 Oct 21 12 2:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	ok, this gets better and better. I had thought the comb was just dovetailed in as it slides back and forth...there is a mechanism that allows one to take it off to get the bolt out, then you can slide it forward to lock it. It will necessitate cuttng the replacement buttplate so that it can slide, but the more I look at this rifle, the more interested I am in restoring it. The telescopic sight will be the most difficult part. There was a "Grover Cleveland 1935" pin on what was left of a heavy sling...now I know why....
slumlord44.britishmilitari...		#4	[-]
Posts: 118 Oct 22 12 10:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I would recomend NOT re finishing that Pope barrel. I would also recomend only careful cleaning of the whole gun. You have a great piece of history there. Tread carefuly with it because you are only its temporary caretaker. May hurt the value by re finishing it.
eb in oregon		#5	[-]
Posts: 2482 Oct 22 12 11:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	As long as Bill only "cleans" and re-oils the stock, and does no more than removing rust and crud from the action, and merely replaces parts that are un-servicable, he "does no harm." To not clean it, and to ignore repairs is silly. Even museums "restore" their treasures. The only ones they don't restore are the piles of crud that are just piles of crud. One of the things about some "collectors" and "dealers" is the occasional offering of some thing that hasn't seen the light of day for years, so as it "has patina," is plainly more valuable than something that has been maintained. Umm, I don't think so. Super on the rifle Bill. A Pope barrel. Swell! I've been reading about his barrels my entire life, and you have one. Swell! "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin, July 4 1776
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Plain Old Bill	Of course	#6	[-]
Posts: 2553 Oct 25 12 6:21 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You're absolutely right, I'll leave the barrel alone, maybe the action too. Will have to clean and possibly re-oil the walnut. Right now I'm looking for a 6" x 2" flat buttplate. Not easy to find! After that, I'll need to talk to an antique scope expert....we'll see if the mounts are for a Unertl, a Lyman, a Fredericks, will have to find out. Then I'll have to find one to replace it!
eb in oregon		#7	[-]
Posts: 2482 Oct 25 12 11:15 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Working on that Stevens Model 416 last month I spent some time looking and shopping for an Unertl or equivelent scope for it. In the process I looked at many of the vintage scopes that were used "back in the day." I really couldn't see much of a difference between the mounting blocks for those scopes, so I don't think you'll have any trouble locating something that will fit. The scopes power will be an issue though. I put a 10x Unertl on that M416 and immediatly made it a 100 yard rifle. With the ten power you can't focus on or even really see a target closer than that. So I'd look at a six to eight power scope that will allow you to shoot a little closer. However that rifle is accurate enough that with that 10x scope, you can snipe at thumbtacks at the 100 yard berm. The big issue is the cost, that 10x Unertl cost a few bucks shy of $600.00 with mounts, and that was one of the cheaper scopes that I'd looked at for several weeks. I also looked at the reproduction scopes offered by Midway. They look good, and from what I'd been reading, they work alright too, the problem was the reviews I'd read on the mounts. Several posts and reviews mentioned that the scope didn't repeat well with the supplied mounts. One guy went so far as to purchase two cheap 0-1 inch micrometers and use the barrels, thimbles, and spindles and machined his own rear mount. http://rvbprecision.com/shooting/fabricating-a-unertl-type-scope-mount.html I think you will spend far more putting optics on that rifle than you paid for it, but if it were mine, I'd surely do the same thing. A Pope barrel for crying out loud! How cool is that? When are you going to give us a peek Bill? "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin, July 4 1776
Plain Old Bill		#8	[-]
Posts: 2553 Nov 3 12 9:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	eb, I'll figure out the pic situation soon...both kids absconded with my cameras to their next duty posts, so I'll have to think of another way. I got on the single shot shooting association site- they are very nice folks there...and described the markings on the bottom of the barrel as well. It had Eric Johnson's name as well as Harry Pope's....Eric Johnson was a "noted and collectible" gunsmith who won Camp Perry's .22 prone event in 1929....this gets better and better.... I think you're absolutely right about that vintage sighting system, whether it's a tube sight or something like a Lyman or Unertl. Gonna cost some, looks like a few more rifles will find new homes soon. Amazing what directions auctions and such take us in.
Carl Gustav		#9	[-]
Posts: 4256 Nov 21 12 7:54 PM Forum Site Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bill, I know the secretary and archivist of the Single Shot Shooting Association, Laurie Gapko. He's a great guy and incredibly knowledgeable. He lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and I live a short ride away in Menomonie. I purchased a beautiful 1912 Swedish Mauser from him a couple of years ago. I see him at the local gun shows all the time. I haven't seen them but I guess the archives are little short of amazing. Congratulations on scoring an amazing find!! Carl
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