July2026 (1) - Flipbook - Page 37
The Pope Prize is awarded to the competitor who shoots
the highest score for 50 shots. 50 shots with unlimitted
sighting shots will be fired from 100
yards. This benchrest event takes
place on Saturday 1/23/27.
Harry Melville Pope (1861-1950) was a
renowned American gunsmith celebrated
for crafting precision rifle barrels.
Early life and career
•
Born in Walpole, New Hampshire,
Pope became passionate about
shooting and making high-quality rifle
barrels early in his life.
•
He won a shooting match in 1887
with a rifle barrel he made himself,
cementing his dedication to the craft.
Contributions to rifle barrel design
•
Pope spent his life striving to create the best rifle barrels
possible.
•
He favored an eight-groove rifling design with narrow lands and
shallow grooves (approximately 0.004 inches deep).
•
To minimize bullet deformation, he developed a method of
loading cartridges into the breech and then seating the bullets
through a removable muzzle extension.
•
He invented a special machine rest to objectively test his barrel
designs, eliminating human variability.
God Bless Black Powder!
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