Welcome to at this time’s Photo of the Day! Right here we now have a Smith & Wesson .38 Army & Police (Mannequin of 1902) Goal that acquired the “final improve” – a barrel by Harry Pope, America’s premier accuracy specialist of the early 1900s. The manufacturing facility letter tells an attention-grabbing story. This revolver shipped to C.T.G. Armstrong in Boston on June 26, 1903, with no barrel size listed – uncommon for Smith & Wesson data. Roy Jinks theorizes this indicated both a particular barrel size or, extra seemingly, that it shipped with no barrel so Armstrong may have Pope do the work.
Armstrong seems to be the well-known aggressive shooter George Armstrong, energetic in matches throughout Washington, Oregon, and California within the early 1900s. The connection is smart – Pope had a gun store in San Francisco till the 1906 earthquake compelled him again to Massachusetts. A critical West Coast competitor would naturally search out Pope’s legendary accuracy work.
Solely 12,827 “Mannequin of 1902” revolvers had been made, with collectors estimating simply 5-10% had been Goal variants. That places whole Goal manufacturing round 640-1,280 weapons, making this Pope-barreled instance exceptionally uncommon. Pope’s signature barrel work is obvious – “H.M.POPE” stamped on prime together with his serial quantity “269” on the underside. The adjustable rear sight and pinned beaded entrance sight had been important for the precision capturing Armstrong seemingly pursued.
Most of our POTDs make the most of pictures from our mates at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms public sale in america. Take a while to browse their current auctions – who is aware of, possibly you’ll discover a piece of historical past to take house!
“Pope Barreled Smith & Wesson 38 M&P 2nd Mannequin Goal Revolver.” Rock Island Public sale, www.rockislandauction.com/element/4095/340/pope-barreled-smith-wesson-38-mp-2nd-model-target-revolver. Accessed 12 Aug. 2025.
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