any early Ballard experts here, .38 r.f.?
I picked this up at a local gun show, I 'believe' it is a very early Ballard sporting rifle in .38 rim fire. ser. # is 405 but...there is no makers marking at all. the 'red' color tells me it has been 're-blued' . any ideas?
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Early Ballard No. 2 Sporting Model, should have a 30" barrel in .38 cal. Some had a reversible firing pin for CF cartridges. Receiver and action block were color case hardened, so you know why it's red now. Made 1876 to 1889.
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Hi Trapp, yes it does have a 30" barrel (approx.). I do plan on converting to c.f. and c.c. hardening the action. I have started to 'play' with this (see sample r.b.). now as to cal., grove dia. is very close to .375" ? I also have to make an extractor..........
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Mike, Keep that up, and I'll send you mine!
Critter got one from BDJ, and I talked Crit out of it. It was a .38 Long CF that some bubba tried to ream to Extra Long and borked the chamber. Crit had it reamed to 38/55 because it was the only way to salvage it. IIRC, the bore was .379, but the twist is slow for the heavier 38/55 bullets. Surprised with BP loads, it holds a tight group. I have a Dockendorf globe on the front, with the sliding sun roof, to light up the gold wire cross hairs. I got a Ballard repro tang sight from Jeff at Jeff's Outfitters, that works perfect with the globe.
There's an early and late extractor, and I don't know if they interchange. Mine is a later 5? digit serial, that falls in the range where they changed the extractor and had the two piece breech block. Is your breech block one piece, or the two piece like mine? I would like to replace the action screws and tighten up the action, but nobody it making them now.
Slate Creek, ID a dozen years ago, Crit or WhiteClouder took the pic trying to get the smoke ring it makes.
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The gun is probably from the days of mercuric priming.
If there is mercury, it is in the oxides of the finish.
Removing the finish for refinishing could be carried out in a closed container. The spent finish remover fluid could then be poured off gently in cool weather into a sealable container or maybe mixed with cement powder.
The spaces between stock and barrel or the action may contain a little dust from spent priming.
There will still probably be a little mercury in the steel. It comes out when the barrel is heated beyond 87 degrees C.
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"Is your breech block one piece, or the two piece like mine?".................one piece, the extractor is an 'L' shape' with a knob underneath the forend to activate manually. The bore is in quite nice cond. (for the age) and should shoot well, I'll probably go with the .38/55 but I am aware of the limitations of the cast iron action. could you please post a picture of your breech block so I can see the c.f. conversion. thanks
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SoreShoulder, threadcrap your broken record somewhere else, it's getting old, and no one here cares.
Mike, I have the reversible firing pin that's in the breech block, and an enclosed straight mainspring on mine. It's in the 11380 serial range. I have it apart for a good deep cleaning, then I'll get some pics for you. Your firing pin is fixed to the hammer?
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" Your firing pin is fixed to the hammer?"..........yes it is, I had figured on milling the breech block for a floating f.p. after facing off the original r.f. pin on the hammer.
edit
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TRAP55: 31517090706715/comments/31517072875803
SoreShoulder, threadcrap your broken record somewhere else, it's getting old, and no one here cares.
Mike, I have the reversible firing pin that's in the breech block, and an enclosed straight mainspring on mine. It's in the 11380 serial range. I have it apart for a good deep cleaning, then I'll get some pics for you. Your firing pin is fixed to the hammer?
A. behavioral
B. made up words a.k.a. speech aphasia (threadcrap?)
Way to be cavalier about mercury.
This post has nothing to do with the topic. When the thread reaches post number nine, this post will be deleted to save space. Make all necessary preparations for deletion. Mark C.
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