I already posted this over on the "Cast Boolits" site, but it was suggested that I cross post it here too.  Been "lurking" for a while since I've always been a single shot rifle lover and have a few in my varied collection of guns.

A few days ago I bought another one of my personal "holy grail" guns ... a JM Marlin / Ballard No. 5 Pacific model!

This one is a .40-90 Ballard with 30" octagon barrel and the bore is in very good condition. (And no, it doesn't have a bulge up near the muzzle ... that is just a shadow in the photo I took.) The muzzle is a bit banged up, but the previous owner was shooting it using .40-90 Bertram cases (20 rounds of brass came with the gun) and the RCBS 400 grain .410 Silhouette bullet. He said it would stay on the 100 yard practice pig target at his range without any trouble, so I'll shoot it a bit on paper first before I make any attempts to touch up the crown. The buttstock, buttplate, and wiping rod are replacements and the gun is mostly medium brown, but it's nice and tight so it's nice enough to shoot, but not so nice that I'll feel guilty about shooting it.

I'll have to make a cerrosafe casting of the chamber to see if it is chambered for the .40-90 Ballard or the .40-90 Ballard Ideal "Everlasting". I suspect the latter since the supplied fire-formed Bertram .40-90 cases are swollen at the base ahead of the rim leading me to think it is either a big chamber or that it might be in the thicker "Everlasting" case, but a cerrosafe casting should tell the story.  The previous owner was shooting the Bertram cases with 80 grains of black and the RCBS 400 grain conventional grooved Silhouette bullet with good success, but I think this is a perfect opportunity for me to finally jump in and try paper patching smooth sided bullets.  (I've been reloading conventional cast bullets for years to shoot in many of my old time rifles.)

Is anyone out there shooting the .40-90 Ballard cartridge that can same me some time and offer any loading tips?  Since I'm up in Canada I've already emailed "Red River Rick" in Winnipeg to inquire about an adjustable .40 calibre paper patch mould.

Cheers,

Al

(Replaced old Photobucket photos into the above post.)

Oh ... the way ... it is serial number 7930 which from a "best guess" based on rough production numbers would put it at about 1877 or 1878 for manufacture?

Chuckster wrote on Jun 27^th, 2016 at 9:06am:


What "insert" Chuck? Looks like the back edge of the breech block halves to me?

You all are right, and I missed it.
My trigger plate extends back to cover that area and assumed all DST Ballard's were like that. (Ass-u-me)
Still a very nice rifle.
Chuck

PS: Don ... I'm assuming that your load is 8 weighed grains of SR4759 topped with 80 grains of FG by volume?  (Or are you weighing the black powder charge as well?)  Are you using a card wad or a grease cookie over the powder charge and under the bullet?  Any powder compression?

Thanks again for the info!

Al

rustyrelx wrote on Jun 27^th, 2016 at 11:49am:

Bulk and buld not weighed..

PS 40-90 Ballard is a favorite cartridge. Groove diameter should be .410  Forget about all the .403 stuff that everybody writes about. UNLESS you use a paperpatched projectile. And .403 would be a good place to start BEFORE you patch it.
I like the .40-90 Ideal also.

I personally would not go that routebut if you must there are diffrent rim thicknesses, make sure you get the think one. $5 a round? never saw one that expensive. Get a box of Bertrams from Buffalo arms with the .477 head size.
  Don
probable not going to shoot it THAT much