Gun Show Gem

[Rockindaddy]

What a beautifully made tool ! A lot of Harry Pope rifles were set up that way. Seat a cast boolit into the rifling and load a charged cartridge into the chamber. Nice photos! Someday may I will figure out why my photos always load out of kilter.

[marlinman93]

What a beautifully made tool ! A lot of Harry Pope rifles were set up that way. Seat a cast boolit into the rifling and load a charged cartridge into the chamber. Nice photos! Someday may I will figure out why my photos always load out of kilter.

Pope used two methods to seat bullets in his barrels. Either breech seating, or muzzleloading the bullet down to the charged case. My Pope Ballard is a ML barrel and came with one of his false muzzle starters.
Pope learned to make false muzzle barrels from George Schalk. Will Hayes (the scchuetzen King) introduced the two after Hayes asked Schalk to make a ML barrel for his Ballard #6 Schuetzen rifle and won many matches using it. The three men met at the Zettler Bros. indoor shooting gallery and Schalk explained to Pope his methods used to make the false muzzle barrels for cartridge rifles. Schalk was a genius, and much older than Pope. He's not gotten the credit due him since most of his barrels and rifles were high quality ML target rifles. Schalk was also one of the finest violin makers in the world! A true renaissance man.

[Rockindaddy]

Working on a cherrie or mould cutter out of a piece of 01 die steel to open up an old Lee Mould to .332. Ordered a .331 sizer from Midway. Have to work backwards. Getting a boolit to fit the bore on ole' Love Potion No.9 Union Hill Marlin Ballard rifle with a groove diameter of .330". Then will have to ream the chamber neck to accept a seated cast boolit. Once that is accomplished: will have to make up a sizing and seating die. Did some research and found that Harry Pope's favorite caliber was 32-40. I think he liked 33-40 too. After he wore out the 32 cal barrel and had it re-rifled to .330 so he could continue shooting his favorite target rifle.

[marlinman93]

Working on a cherrie or mould cutter out of a piece of 01 die steel to open up an old Lee Mould to .332. Ordered a .331 sizer from Midway. Have to work backwards. Getting a boolit to fit the bore on ole' Love Potion No.9 Union Hill Marlin Ballard rifle with a groove diameter of .330". Then will have to ream the chamber neck to accept a seated cast boolit. Once that is accomplished: will have to make up a sizing and seating die. Did some research and found that Harry Pope's favorite caliber was 32-40. I think he liked 33-40 too. After he wore out the 32 cal barrel and had it re-rifled to .330 so he could continue shooting his favorite target rifle.

Pope often built rifle barrels in .32-40 Ballard as a starting point with every intention of re-rifling to .33 later. I think some shooters liked doing their barrels this way also, while others just ordered a .33 from Pope.

[NW42]

That’s the nicest I’ve seen.

[Rockindaddy]

Too bad Marlinman93 is on the other side of the country. Fond of Marlin, Winchester, and Sharps rifles. I usually am at my SW Pennsylvania farm in the nice weather and am a "Snow Duck" after we stack the freezer with Bambi's older family members. Shoot a pile of cast boolits. Iron targets are fun! They ring like a gong when hit. Booked a bison hunt this October. My grandson and some friends are taking our Sharps rifles to maybe put some buffalo in the freezer. Made a lot of deer jerky this past season. I double grind it so it chews easy. Have several cure mixes that I tried. I usually give it out and see who likes what spice and cure mix. Going to try Bison jerky for the first time. Will see how it goes. Guess I'm counting on my old 50 cal Sharps to put the fur on the ground. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of Marlin Ballard rifles.

[marlinman93]

Too bad Marlinman93 is on the other side of the country. Fond of Marlin, Winchester, and Sharps rifles. I usually am at my SW Pennsylvania farm in the nice weather and am a "Snow Duck" after we stack the freezer with Bambi's older family members. Shoot a pile of cast boolits. Iron targets are fun! They ring like a gong when hit. Booked a bison hunt this October. My grandson and some friends are taking our Sharps rifles to maybe put some buffalo in the freezer. Made a lot of deer jerky this past season. I double grind it so it chews easy. Have several cure mixes that I tried. I usually give it out and see who likes what spice and cure mix. Going to try Bison jerky for the first time. Will see how it goes. Guess I'm counting on my old 50 cal Sharps to put the fur on the ground. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of Marlin Ballard rifles.

Sounds like it's going to be a fun hunt for bison! Always thought that would be a great thing to do with one of my old single shots. I've hunted elk and deer with mine, but that's all. I'd love to see what my Freund Sharps in .50-140 would do with a bison.
Good luck on your hunt! What state is it going to be in?

[abqcaster]

Nice find indeed!

[Rockindaddy]

Big bison hunt in South Western South Dakota. Neighbor has over 500 head of sheep. The coyotes play havoc on the lambs. Going out a few days early to bang a few yoties!! Would like to have some big medicine worked up for the Marlin-Ballard 32-40. With the 6X scope maybe a dumb yotie will stumble into a 32 cal cast boolit!!! Have to find some small coyote stickers that I could paste on the side of the gun like a Jap meatball or a swastica on the fuselage of a P-51 fighter.

[Rockindaddy]

MM93: I once had a 14lb Sharps in 50-140. Shooting 700gr cast boolits with 140 grs of ffg. What a freight train. Bambi never knew what hit him! Never did find a bullet weather I shot em sideways or through the brisket long ways. A friend talked me out of the gun. Lots of recoil push. I suspect your 50-140 would work quite well on a bison.

[marlinman93]

MM93: I once had a 14lb Sharps in 50-140. Shooting 700gr cast boolits with 140 grs of ffg. What a freight train. Bambi never knew what hit him! Never did find a bullet weather I shot em sideways or through the brisket long ways. A friend talked me out of the gun. Lots of recoil push. I suspect your 50-140 would work quite well on a bison.

When I purchased my Freund Sharps from a friend he had a bunch of custom loaded ammo done by Eldorado Custom Loading in Nevada. It was all done with 4198 smokeless powder, and loads were either 678 gr. paper patched bullets, or 450 gr. paper patched bullets. But both loads were around 1650 fps, and the thought of even trying one made me not want to experience the recoil, or worry about what they might do to a 150 yr. old rifle!
I broke down all 200 rds., and dumped the bullets in my lead pot. I cast up 450 gr. grease groove bullets, and worked up loads using Swiss 1.5fg 120 grs. with felt wad fillers over the powder to eliminate air space. They are a nice mold load in this heavy Sharps and less felt recoil than my 530 gr. .45-70 BP loads I shoot in a few old single shots.