Another 1891 Rolling Block

[marlinman93]

My newest acquisition to the clan. Rolling Block 1891 Target pistol chambered in .22 Short, with HM Pope barrel, and Pope modifications. The hammer is skeletonized, trigger stop added, and target sights. Pope barrel threaded for a silencer for indoor gallery matches. Left hand Pope rifling, and barrel is marked HM POPE on top, and under the forearm, along with Pope's barrel number.
Added to my current Arthur Hubalek 1891 Target pistol.



You can see the chip bottom front I need to repair.



Threaded barrel.



Adjustable rear sight, and post front.



Pope above, and Hubalek below.



And a picture of my friend and hero John Dutcher, author of "Ballard, The Great American Single Shot Rifle". John is the handsome one on the right.

[elmacgyver0]

Now you need a Banish 22 or similar silencer to go with it.
Then, you will be sitting in high cotton.

[marlinman93]

Now you need a Banish 22 or similar silencer to go with it.
Then, you will be sitting in high cotton.

Unless a silencer looked like the original old Maxims that were just smooth black finish, I don't want one. Issue is today only air gun silencers use the same 1/2x20 threads this has. Regular silencers are 1/2UNF which is 28 tpi.

[Mk42gunner]

If you can get past the hideously viscous recoil the .22 Short is known for, you should have aa lot of fun with that pistol.

Robert

[koger]

Very nice piece of history and great collector piece. Nice score Val.

[K43]

Beautiful.

[marlinman93]

If you can get past the hideously viscous recoil the .22 Short is known for, you should have aa lot of fun with that pistol.

Robert

Yes, that one issue with recoil I always dread with these big boomers!

[marlinman93]

Very nice piece of history and great collector piece. Nice score Val.

I have a friend who owns a similar Pope Rolling Block with documented history of being used by an American Olympic team shooter in the Olympics. It's an even nicer gun than mine.

[marlinman93]

Began repairing the chip in the grip of this pistol yesterday. Started by cutting a small piece of walnut scrap larger than the chip, and then shaping the chip with a half round file, and the filler on my mini belt sander until it fit the chip's shape. Then used a rat tail file to cut the shape of the front tang inletting, and glued the block in place. I use old bicycle inner tubes cut into bands to hold odd shaped fillers.


Today I taped up the perimeter of my filler block with blue masking tape and using a rough mill file I took it down until I began touching the blue masking tape. Then I removed the tape and used various grit sandpaper to sneak up on the edges without overrunning the existing grip too much. I fully sanded the bottom as it's easier to blend that way for a small area. The two sides where it gets into the checkering I stopped a little sooner to avoid sanding the checkering.
Used a Q Tip to apply N35 red stain to filler and adjacent wood and the match looked good applying it straight. I'll let it dry overnight and use some Wipe On Poly to try to match the existing finish tomorrow.





Hopefully the repair will blend in and only be noticeable if I point it out to someone. It will for sure be better than the missing chip!

[725]

Nicely done. That repair looks near perfect! Neat little shooter.

[marlinman93]

Nicely done. That repair looks near perfect! Neat little shooter.

Thanks! I get lucky sometimes matching up wood and color on these repairs. I was fortunate to find someone selling the extinct Tapaderas N35 Win. red tint at the cGCA show, which made this an easier matching job.