H&H barrels

[steve free]

A friend of mine bought a flintlock rifle at the fall shoot at Friendship this year. The barrel is an H&H, which we were told stood for Hoppy Hopkins. Does anyone know anything about these barrels?

 

[necchi]

Are you sure it's not an H&A ?
Hopkins & Allen

 

[steve free]

No, it has H&H on the barrel. People kept telling us that it was a Hoppy Hopkins barrel.

 

[David W.]

Yes, Hoppy Hopkins, or H&H. I own two of them, one .36 and one .62. They were the top grade barrel at the time, still are. They had the toughest steel ever put on a muzzle loader. DeHauss owns the machining now. They changed the barrel steel a little.

No, it has H&H on the barrel. People kept telling us that it was a Hoppy Hopkins barrel.

 

[steve free]

Can these barrels still be found? My friends rifle has turned out to be a great shooter, and he recently took a deer at 80 yards with it.

 

[David W.]

Only if DeHauss is still in business. Barrels with the H&H name hasn't been around since the 80's. Like i said, same machinery, but different owners. I can't testify they are as good as the H&H. All the H&H barrels were match grade. I believe they were made from ordnance steel. It took me forever to cut dovetails. Hoppy isn't with us any more.

Can these barrels still be found? My friends rifle has turned out to be a great shooter, and he recently took a deer at 80 yards with it.

 

[steve free]

Thanks again for all of your help. We'll keep our eyes open for any more of these barrels that might be out there under either the H&H or DeHauss name. Love how they shoot and the easy cleaning.

 

[David W.]

I love mine. I used to shoot good with them until my eyes went south. The bores are still mirror bright, even after years of use. If I can find the phone number for DeHauss, I will forward it to you.

 

[Geraldo]

I have no idea if they're still in business, but I found this:

Mark de Haas of de Haas Barrels, (RR 3 Box 77 Ridgeway, MO 64481, 1-816-872-6308).

Also found this as of 2010: 20049 W State Highway Z
Ridgeway, MO 64481-9336
(660) 872-6308.

 

[Bob J]

Believe H & H were manufactured in North Florida at one time. My .36 Roger Sells Tennessee flintlock has an H & H barrel and it's very accurate. It takes a .360 ball with .015 - .018 patch.

 

[steve free]

Thanks a lot guys, You've all been a big help!

 

[robertdale]

one of the reason's it shoots good is the radius bottom rifling. had one in mid 80's. built a l.h. cap lock with it. cherry lock. my dad shot it a few seasons. I sold it to a guy in carson city,nv.in 2003

 

[Caleb4570]

Recently listed a .54 36" tapered , breached for flint but could
Be breached percussion

 

[zimmerstutzen]

H&H was located just south of Baltimore, MD. in an industrial park, back around 1979. Hoppy used to walk around with a large parrot on his shoulder. I visited his shop back then to have a barrel made in 45 cal, One of the few makers with a choked muzzle on a rifle barrel. Great barrels. nice wide grooves and narrow lands. easy loading and cleaning. The rifling wasn't so much round bottom, but was more like an oval laid on it's side. The radius of the bottom of the groove was larger than the radius of the barrel, like Harry Pope's grooves.

I recently saw an unused H&H listed on an online auction site for a whole lot of money, considering I paid $120 for mine back around 1980.

IIRC, a guy named Mike Bell shot H&H barrels and pretty much cleaned up at all the local matches.

When I visited his shop, he had the CNC machinery running and he was shooting a 22 match rifle from one end of the shop to the other and the machinery was running just below the line of sight. He also custom barreled a few Remmie repros for match shooters.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I had a John Hall flintlock once with an H&H barrel on it. Absolute tack driver. Wasn't well balanced for offhand though and I ended up selling it for the money to buy some tooling for my lathe. Should have kept it for the barrel. Would have been a good chunkgun.

 

[Elwood’s Son]

A friend of mine bought a flintlock rifle at the fall shoot at Friendship this year. The barrel is an H&H, which we were told stood for Hoppy Hopkins. Does anyone know anything about these barrels?

I have one in .45 one inch across the flats. It also has a false muzzle. The H&H stands for Hobbs and Hopkins.
Tom Hobbs and Hoppy Hopkins made barrels during the heyday of muzzleloading competitions in the Baltimore and Annapolis area.
I knew Hobbs personally they Tidewater Muzzle Loaders and Marriotsville Muzzle Loaders.
Hopkins was more a legend both famously and infamously.

 

[WildwoodCastle]

Tom Hobbs and Hoppy Hopkins…all of which made muzzle loading rifles and pistols in the 1960s and 1970s. Hobbs and Hopkins had a joint business venture making barrels for a few years in the Ellicott City area

 

[Scott Somers]

My 2 1/4" diameter,. 577 Cal, 63 Pound bench gun with a H&H barrel that I made around 1981. Hoppy made shooters

 

[Dave Markowitz]

IIRC, a guy named Mike Bell shot H&H barrels and pretty much cleaned up at all the local matches.

I realize this is a bit of a necropost but since the thread came back up to the top...

My father shot against Mike Bell back in the 70s at Marriottsville and Tidewater and described him as "a machine." I got the impression that he would have done well with any decent barrel. (Dad was no slouch himself.)

Dad once mentioned to Tom Hobbes that he was going to visit Colonial Williamsburg, upon which Hobbs told my father to give his regards to Wallace Gusler. Dad did so and was invited into the back or working area to get a close up look at the guns being built.

 

[reddogge]

I was a member of Tidewater back then and remember shooting against both of them. They were tough competitors. I had an H&H .36 barrel lying around since 1982 and finally put the rifle together this year. I haven't had much chance of sighting it in due to a balky lock but Brad Emig got it tuned up nicely so I'm waiting for better weather.