Winchester HI-Wall 40-70 Ballard Bbl.
Greetings fellow enthuiasts! I have recently acquired a pristine barrel for a Winchester Hi-Wall I believe that has very cursive script at the end of the barrel listing the caliber as 40-70 Ballard. the blue is excellent and the bore is as new. I'm not sure if this has ever been on a rifle.The bluing appears too perfect to me, and as this came from the estate of a gunsmith, I suspect it was reblued, but all of the lettering is sharp. Any idea what to ask for this? I was thinking an honest $400 for it for a BPCR shooter. I'd appreciate your thoughts, it's a beautiful and massive piece of a buffalo shooter![B)]
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Hello sailormark40...
Based on your description thus far, I would not bet on it being an original Model 1885 Single-Shot barrel. To start with, Winchester never used cursive script lettering on the Model 1885 caliber stamps (or anywhere else for that matter). Over the years, I have looked at many high-wall Single-shots that were chambered for Ballard cartridges, and the most common stamp found is "40-70 BAL". I have seen a scant few where the word "Ballard" was completely spelled out, and italized lettering was used - "40-70 BALLARD".
Can you post (or send me) pictures of all the markings on the barrel? If so, please include the Winchester address stamp (located on the upper flat, or on the flat immediately left of the top flat), the caliber stamp itself, and finally, all of the various marks stamped on the bottom flat of the barrel (located between the flat-spring tenon dovetail slot and the thread shank). With those pictures (or a very detailed description of them from you), I can positively ID if it is an original Winchester made barrel. As it stands now, I suspect that it is a modern made repro by someone like Badger, Ballard, etc.
Regards,
Bert H.
Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!0
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