My father has a collection of Ballards that have heavy barrels-32-40 Schuetzen, 25-20WCF or 22 long rifle, Action ser #5506,6309,6996,13064,24005, 35538. How do I find the value of these guns?

Ser 5506 has a V.Sigmon Cabool Mo. barrel, 25-20WCF,ser 35538 has a Niedner Rifle Corp Dowagiac, Mich 22 long rifle, The others- I can't find any letters or numbers on them. Tried to post pics, wouldn't go.

Westy.--Not an expert, by any means, but from what you listed I think you may be talking some serious money.  If you are considering selling, I would get a knowledgeable appraiser to look at them (maybe more than one). Would cost you some money, but think it might be worth it.
Chuck

The 25-20 maker i do not know.  The Niedner could be a high dollar rifle.  We need more information on it Pistol grip or straight grip stock, any idea as to the stock maker?  engraved?   
Marlin was good on putting serial numbers or ballard parts barrels actions both pieces of wood and butt plates will have serial numbers.
any more information would help get you some answers.

Det

westy,
pm sent go read.
irish

I have not been able to determine the value of the guns due to the numerous modifications. I have a couple of articles and pictures of CT Westergaard with a couple of his guns and we are trying to get better identification as we may have 1 or 2 of the guns. I have also discovered a medals board with about 20 medals he won from 1910 to 1029 including several King medals. I also have an autobiography.
  We have not decided if or when we might sell some of the guns. This has been quite a learning process and I appreciate everyone's input.
Thank you,
Lee Westergaard

Lee,

PM sent

Waterman

I traded for a Ballard poorly modified by a name smallbore barrel maker to a small bore prone rifle once.  Had it for sale at 600 bucks for a year or so before trading it off to a buddy for about 600 bucks worth of stuff.

It was and is a great shooter, If  the rifle does not look good nobody wants to buy it.  Ballards for the action alone don't bring the same prices as a Low Wall Winchester.

Boats

boats wrote on Mar 17^th, 2010 at 8:53pm:


One of the problems with the "action alone" selling for a decent price is the 4 variants of Ballard action. The straight grip cast action has very little use, relegated to either .22LR or .32 Long RF/CF. That makes it pretty undesireable from a builder's point of view. The same cast action in a PG frame has the same restrictions, but being a PG makes it highly desireable!
The forged frames in straight grip, or PG are highly desireable, and will get pretty big dollars either way, but especially in a forged PG action!

Modified/custom guns are not as easy to value as a factory gun. But, there is certainly a good market for them, especially guns built/modified by known gunsmiths. If someone just tells you it's worth less because it's been modified, that ain't necessarily so. My interest is in custom .22 Ballards by Pope Peterson, Neidner, CC Johnson, Eric Johnson, etc. As has been mentioned, you should seek out a reputable appraiser/dealer to get a realistic valuation. Asking your friends will not get you a realistic valuation. In terms of selling you really need a good valuation and then you need to reach the people/collectors who are interested and have the $$$$. I've gotten some good deals over the years because sellers really didn't know how to sell the guns. One big mistake was trying to  sell at a local match to people who weren't really interested and mostly didn't have or were unwilling to spend the $$$ that the gun was worth. I've sold several guns thru a dealer. This has worked out very well, he could get the $$$ that I couldn't (he has a very good reputation and can take the guns to multiple shows) and the consignment fee was very reasonable - I didn't have to deal with tire kickers and the $$$ is more than I could get trying to sell myself.
Look for a PM on this.

or this one;

Bob, ASSRA rules allow them, ISSA rules do not.  I don't know when that change was made.

David

Coors shoot 1983 in the picture I posted it was Mark Westergaard on the left and Jim Westergaard on the right.I was thinking these are two of the rifles he wanted price estimates on.
I see Westy has not posted here for some months.
It was a fun shoot Schutzenbob except for each afernoons deluge, figured out why the curbs in town were two feet high!!

I would say that it would depend on the overall condition. If in just average well used (what ever that is) condition, I would rebarrel. If it looks little used, I'd keep Ballard parts on it. Or if reselling it is something you hold high, rebarrel and keep the old barrel for a potential buyer. The new barrel won't be hard to sell.

Frank

Its already been rebarreled and I uhhh mmm like the 40-90.. So I would be interested in buying the front half if the bore is good... Don

There's so many Ballards out there in the same situation (forend assembly swap) that I really don't think that hurts them much if it all fits well and looks to be the same age. 
A newly fitted barrel and forearm will of course look much newer than the rest, so you may want to also set aside, or sell the buttstock also, as it would look much different.

When Westy (Lee Westergaard) first posted to this thread I emailed him.  He lives in Iowa and yes the rifles were/are Chris, Auggie and Jim Westergaard's rifles.  From what he described at that time (early 2010) there are some real gems in the collection.

I encouraged him to find out everything he could about the rifles since the things that add the greatest value to rifles is the provenance (who owned them, who shot them, etc.).  The .22 he described belonged to Otto Hubaleck.  One of the Stevens he has was the one that his Grandfather C.T. Westergaard won in match prior to WW I (a Stevens-Pope).  The Ballards were various, Schoyen, Peterson, Zischang and others.

He also has a collection of "real" gold Schuetzen medals that C.T. won that apparently were hidden prior to 1934 to keep the Roosevelt administration from grabbing them.

I had encouraged Lee to contact some auction houses and get expert advise from collector's prior to auctioning off any of the rifles.