Vall,
It appears to have been a nickle finish at one time and the age old question is do I refinish it with nickle or leave it be... It can be stripped but there's a lot of rusting and a couple of blisters, the lettering is faint already so there won't be any polishing - I don't want to restore it, just less maturity. (as with all guns I own, it will be used but not abused)  The wood has some shrinkage and the butt stock isn't original so it doesn't fit real well, a tiny bit of inletting and it should look a little better.  I'll leave the finish on the wood and barrel alone as it has the right amount of "crust" on it.
Greg

Welcome to the .44 rimfire Ballard club!  I'll have a closer look at mine and see how the bore compares to yours for twist.  Sadly I haven't had a chance to do anything with mine yet, I suffer from the same affliction as many folks on here ... WAY too many projects!  (And I still keep buying more!)  Haven't had a chance to try out the Old West heeled bullet mould yet, it's been way too hot here lately and with the multitude of forest fires we have burning in BC this year we have heavy smoke drifting over to Vancouver Island which really affects my breathing.  It's starting to cool off a bit and we're supposed to be getting a Pacific Ocean wind soon that may help to clear off some of the lingering smoke we have.

On a happier note, I was monitoring another Canadian online auction yesterday and I won another one of these .44 rimfire dual ignition Ballards for a shooting friend of mine!  It is a bit rougher than my example, but hopefully it will be a shooter too.  With two of the same guns needing bullets and ammunition fabricated hopefully the two of us will finally get our rears in gear and cast some bullets and make some more adapter cases and we'll get out to test them at our local range ...

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GT wrote on Aug 25^th, 2018 at 8:15pm:

GT wrote on Aug 26^th, 2018 at 11:38am:


Nothing looks worse than a deteriorating nickel finish. (Why is this so common--was the nickel plating just too thin, improper surface preparation, etc.?)  Reverse-electrolysis is the only to strip the nickel without damage to the underlying iron, but if "there's a lot of rusting" already, it might not matter so much, esp. if you've ruled out polishing.

Wish I could remember the name of the metal refinishing outfit in Florida (where crooks of every kind outnumber orange trees) that utterly ruined a nickel-plated Marlin Ballard receiver I sent them by stripping it with acid AFTER promising they used reverse-electrolysis!!!  These rotten bastards advertised in the SS Exchange, & when I told Bret Boyd about it, he said he'd cancel their future ads; it didn't happen, so I wonder how many other guns they destroyed.

Reverend Al wrote on Aug 26^th, 2018 at 2:09pm:


Could also be as simple as someone made it a wallhanger and did the hole to use as a means to secure it to the wall so it wouldn't be taken down easily, or knocked off.
Saw a few that way, and often one side of the gun's finish on metal and wood is darker than the wall side.

With the lever shape and pin in the frame to align the lever, it appears it might be a Brown Mfg. Ballard?

marlinguy wrote on Aug 26^th, 2018 at 5:15pm:


Why only Brown?  Earlier makers used the same arrangement.

marlinguy wrote on Aug 26^th, 2018 at 8:49pm:


Look at the top photo--upper tang is visible.

Oh ... and yes, it does have tangs ...

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Reverend Al wrote on Aug 26^th, 2018 at 9:47pm:
  

YES!  This has--or had--a rare pre-Marlin Ballard tang-sight!  Why the hell would anyone remove it...except to sell separately?