A Very Special BSA 12/15

[Shere Khan]

Hello, everyone. A few years ago, I purchased a BSA 12/15 match rifle from a collector/dealer friend.
It has been custom stocked in fancy English walnut..checkering patterns on both sides & bottom of forend, as well as pistol grip. Grip area has wundhammer swell for palm, black grip cap, and a contoured and checkered thumb rest.
shadow-line cheek piece. There is one heavy steel swivel inletted with two screws in forend.
The lever has been lengthened by a neat very long tapered finger splice into original lever...pinned & silver soldered.
There is a cylindrical steel knob mortised on lever end, checkered in a shield pattern, front & back sides. The ends of knob are deep dished in the British style.
This lever has a distinct bend to the right..I have been told that this could have been done for a bit quicker lever acquisition, in the rapid-fire matches popular during the 30's? The trigger has a threaded stop in guard..very nice light crisp pull.
The block has been drilled to match loading trough contour..whith action open..there is a clear pass for the cleaning rod..no need to take down action.
The R.H. side of action has been neatly cut away for easier loading.
Sights are Parker Hale No. 7 adj. appa. rear, Watkins globe front.
The 1" at muzzle 30" long brl. has scope blks. Match chamber & mint bore.
Now here is the kicker...stamped in small neat letters on the L.H. side of brl. are: H.M. Pope.
Underside has all his markings, including April 1933 #781.
This summer I did quite a bit of shooting with this rifle. I had a Lyman Jr. Targetspot in 10X mounted.
At 50yds, Lapua match was grouping in the .2's Eley EPS black box wasn't too far behind.
I even got out the shooting coat & tried prone..something I must do more often in future.

I have always been facinated by the long-range matches of the 1870's and 80's at Bisley, Creedmoor, and Wimbledon.
I have an older book Americans And Their Guns. This has quite detailed information on these long ago matches & also drawings of the huge chilled cast-iron targets..complete with dimensions.
Working with a printer, I have scaled these 1000yd. targets down for shooting at 100yds. (1/5 size for 200yds. would probably be more realistic..but 200yd. ranges are hard to come by!)
The black bull ends up at 3.6" I have made both the early square as well as the later round.
Thru irons, at 100yds., that bull looks for all the world like a tiny pencil dot!
I even had O'Hare Tool make up a couple of extra small appatures for use on these tiny targets.
Shooting prone, with wrist rest, I was able to shoot some remarkable groups in the black...shooting unsuported without sling as per the original Creedmoor rules...well.."There were giants in the earth in those days"
I might even try to contort my old carcas into one of those fancy back positions..Have to watch out for my toes!
This old 12/15-Pope is one heavy rifle..caught myself having to rest after each shot..I am looking forward to teaching myself how to shoot better.
This is another I dearly wish could talk!

[Ovenpaa]

There is indeed something rather special about older rifles and as you say if only they could speak..

Anyway it sounds like you have fascinating rifle there, you really have got to get some pictures posted up at some point. The first rifle I shot was a BSA International back in the early 70's and although I have nowhere to shoot rimfire they still catch my eye when I see them advertised.

[25Pdr]

Would also like to see some Photos.

It's a shame here in the UK, a lot of BSA Martini Target Rifles are held by Small Bore Clubs and they are gradually being scrapped, mainly, I think due to the pressure of the Police who seem to have a policy of reducing the amount of Firearms in circulation.

Recently our local RAF Cadet force was ordered to downsize the number of Rifles held. They were about to scrap four when I heard about this. There was a BSA MkV and three BSA 12/15 rifles involved. I offered to take them and was asked for a donation of £100 only.

I of course took them with the intention of passing them on to new shooters. I've just sold two for £25 each, I'm keeping the MkV for myself though