Oops! Sorry I'm late to this thread. Yes, Vall's display of beautiful old Ballards was fantastic. 2nd best part of it was watching Vall ring the dingers way out yonder with various ones of the rifles. The best part is how well Vall has gathered information about the rifles and previous owners and helped the rifles tell their histories.

Poor Vall didn't get as much trigger time as some of us, as it seems someone was always pestering him to play docent for his museum pieces, though I don't get the feeling that sharing the histories of his wonderful old rifles was something that Vall tired of. It's hard to pick out one of the rifles he displayed as the most interesting, but for me it had to be his Pope change-barrel rifle with 3 barrels set up on an ingenious system of Pope's devising.

The Gatherin at Wind's every year is a true treat, with many fine folks who appreciate old guns and shooting them at steel plates. I brought my CPA Stevens with barrels in 30-30, 32-40, and 40-72 Winchester, my Ruger No. 1 in 38-55, my 1893 Marlin in 38-55, and my Stevens Favorite 22 LR.

As Vall said, the larger bores are easier to get on the 650 and 990 yard plates, not only for wind-bucking properties, but also because the misses throw up a bigger cloud of dust.  When you're trying to adjust your long-range tang sights for the distant targets, if you don't know where you're missing, you can't make the adjustments to bring the rifle onto target. I threw many a 32-40 and 30-30 bullet onto the hillside toward the distant targets with nary a dust cloud spotted to indicate where they hit. In frustration, I put the small bores aside and went after the 650 and 990 with my 38-55 and my 40-72. I had to use Kentucky windage with the Ruger, as it is currently scoped, and I got close to the 990 by holding on branches of a tree above and windward of the plate. 

With visible dust clouds to mark my misses, an adjustable Montana Vintage Arms tang sight, and Wind's practiced spotting and coaching, after 3 years of trying, I finally joined the 990 club with my CPA and 40-72 barrel. Load was a 400 grain Snover over 22 grains of IMR 4198, fixed cartridges.

jy3855 wrote on Jul 24^th, 2017 at 9:32am:


Yes, I brought a lot of ammo back home, but enjoyed going over the display rifles with the fellas who had not been exposed to schuetzen rifles.
I too found my smaller calibers from .32-40 down to be frustrating to locate misses at longer distances. But at farther distances I can almost spot for myself with a .40, as the dust is easy to see!

slumlord44 wrote on Jul 24^th, 2017 at 10:25pm:


Thanks! Everyone should own a Ballard at some point in life! I wanted one just to complete my pre WWI Marlin repeater collection. Had over 100 early Marlin lever actions then, and after buying my first Ballard I was hooked. Began selling all my repeaters and reinvesting in more Ballards. I own two Marlin 1881's now, and all the rest went away over time. I miss some, but the Ballards fill any empty spots!

Great meeting you today Jack!! Wish we could have visited longer! Thanks for coming down for the show!

Thanks Jack!

Picked up a .22LR benchrest rifle today. 1885 Winchester with #5 weight Stevens-Pope .22 barrel. Heavy little bugger, but at a giveaway price I couldn't resist! I tossed my Belding & Mull target scope on it.


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You told me you were not going to buy that you dirt bag ken

westerner wrote on Aug 22^nd, 2017 at 8:42am:


No Joe, I have several holes in my Marlin collection. Especially in the very expensive models! I have a #7, but not the 7A-1 or 7A-1 Extra. No 4 1/2 Mid Range, or #10 Schuetzen Jr.