A Very Special BSA 12/15
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:20 am
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!
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!
