This horse has been dead for years, and beaten, dug up, and beaten again.

A hand full of inexperienced, uninformed posters is what keeps this thread dragging on. Asking dumb questions and refusing to accept sound advice. Some keep asking the same dumb questions over and over.

westerner wrote on May 6^th, 2020 at 6:29pm:


Reminds me of watching a Congressional hearing! No matter how many times a question is asked and answered, more Congressmen think of another way to ask the same thing again.
In the end the result of however many pages this goes to will be some will be afraid of a Ballard action, and never consider owning or shooting one. All it does is tarnish a very fine action.

Vall all though Ballard's are just not my cup of tea I have absolutely no fear in taking one out to shot. For those who might know they have the shortest hammer fall and double set triggers to die for and by far more superior than most.

JL, We have way, way too much invested in Ballards. When I brought my Stevens-Pope home I had to fess up.  She would have a heart attack when she balanced the check book   I told her I would sell some some. I called a friend and told him I needed to sell one he wanted.  It paid for about a quarter of what I had just spent.  I told her I had sold one within a half an hour.  She was happy and so was I    Bill Crane told me I could have 2 good target rifles for what the Ballard cost but it was more fun. I just hope I shot it well enough that Harry considered me worthy of it.   

Mike, Thanks, That CD is available from Colonial Williamsburg.  I filmed a 3 day seminar the fellow that replaced Gussler did here for Cascade Mountain Men in the mid 70s.  I have the interest, but lack time and skill.  I did make my first Kentucky rifle in the early 70s before kits were common. 

I used a long, long string proof testing   

I've got several cast Ballard actions sitting here that I planned to build into .22RF rifles some day. Just haven't gotten around to it because I have plenty already in .22RF now. Funny thing is far more of my .22RF Ballards are built on forged frames by famous makers when forged Ballards were likely dirt cheap, and not appreciated. If they weren't completed rifles by respected makers I'd have stolen the barrels to finish the cast Ballards, and put some spare CF barrels I have on the forged frames.

art_ruggiero wrote on May 7^th, 2020 at 11:01am:


Safe is a tough one Art. I've got a #2 cast Ballard I've shot in .32-40 for a very long time, but I wouldn't build one like it. Doesn't mean I'd tear it apart or rebarrel it either. It's been this way longer than I've been alive. 
If I was building one I'd stick with .22LR, or .32 Long myself. But .32 Long isn't much fun to do unless you're already set up for the caliber.

This is my #2 in .32-40 chamber. How could anyone change such an unusual #2? I knew what it was when I bought it, but I can deal with carefully loading for it too.

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I've owned factory chambered #2's in .44-40 that Marlin built also. Shot them a lot with sane smokeless loads, and no issues. Have a couple presently factory chambered in .32-20 also. Great shooters.