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Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... (Read 7300 times)

Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Jan 14^th, 2019 at 2:52pm	Print Post
	My latest acquisition just arrived in the mail this morning! A Marlin Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF. It has a few small "warts", but nothing too serious for a rifle of this age. Serial number is 33230. (I'll let Val advise me where that might fall in Ballard production dates?) It has a bit of light frosting in the throat area just ahead of the chamber, but the chamber itself and the rest of the bore is in very good condition so it should still be a good shooter. Standard rear sight and no tang sight. The globe front sight has a "lollypop" style post and bead which is one of my favorite sight types and I like them fairly fine too, which this one is. I'm meeting a shooting / collecting friend out at one of our gun clubs tomorrow, so if I can load a few quick test rounds of .38-55 today then I'll test fire it onto a target while we're at the range tomorrow. Can't wait to shoot this old girl a bit ... (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links)

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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JLouis Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 10625 Joined: Apr 8^th, 2009	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #1 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 3:14pm	Print Post
	Congratulations appears to be very nice and looking forward to seeing your targets and hearing about your first outings results and thanks for sharing.

	" It Is Better To Now Have Been A Has Been Than A Never Was Or A Wanna Be "
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oodmoff Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 276 Location: colorado springs Joined: Jan 12^th, 2009	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #2 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 3:15pm	Print Post
	Nice looking Ballard!


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 15994 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #3 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 3:56pm	Print Post
	That's a pretty nice Pacific in a great caliber! The Marlin Firearms Co. rollstamp, and 33,000 range serial number put it pretty late in production. Guessing around 1888 or so with that high a number. It appears to be well maintained, and has a Ballard fixed globe, and correct rear sight with the early Ballard "ears" on the rear of the sight. Only thing I see is it has the wrong elevator, but that's a very minor issue. Will be interesting to hear what the groove diameter is? Some can run fairly large on these old Ballards in .38-55 Ballard.

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Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #4 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 4:44pm	Print Post
	Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Yes, I'll have to slug it and see how big the barrel is, but .380" to .381" wouldn't surprise me at all. The only cast bullets I have on hand right now to load in it are .377" to .378" and might be undersized, but I'll shoot a few in it just so that I can make it go "bang" tomorrow and if they don't group well or show signs of tipping then I'll have to cast some more bullets to test and leave them full sized, as cast and just pan lubed. I can always try a softer bullet alloy too and duplex load it and see if the force of the black powder charge will upset the bullets and give better accuracy. Too many project guns and not enough time and energy to play with them all! I'm planning to try 20.0, 21.0 and 22.0 grains of IMR4198 tomorrow with WW .38-55 brass and WW Large Rifle primers just for initial testing and I'll be happy to just get it onto paper. The cast bullets I have on hand are 255-ish grain, some with plain base and some with gas checks. I'll see what happens ... Oh, and by the way ... when he shipped it to me he removed the buttstock to shorten the parcel and I noted that the buttstock is numbered to the serial number on the upper toe under the buttplate so it is definitely the original matching stock. Haven't pulled the forend yet to look underneath, but were the forends matched to rifles by serial number too?

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #5 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 4:54pm	Print Post
	By the way, do you have any photos of what the proper rear sight elevator should look like? Are there any correct repro elevators available? (I suppose that an original would be tough to locate since they are likely an often "lost" part?)

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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DWT1885 Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 394 Location: New Jersey Joined: Nov 25^th, 2010	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #6 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 5:41pm	Print Post
	Boy, you sure pick up some really neat single shots. It seems to me you show new ones every few weeks or so. Is it time for a new gunsafe to keep these beautiful rifles in ? Dale.

	35th Security Police Squadron, Phan Rang AB, RVN, May 70-71. All gave some, some gave all.
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Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #7 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 7:48pm	Print Post
	I already have 4 rifle safes plus 2 smaller handgun safes, but to be honest they are getting pretty full these days. In my defense though I have been culling out some of my older Winchester lever actions and replacing them with single shots so the numbers haven't really changed all that much. Oh, and I have 2 more Maynards coming sometime soon as well ...

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #8 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 7:52pm	Print Post
	I'm just taking a short break to make a couple of quick phone calls, but I'm in the middle of loading some .38-55 test loads for the Ballard that I'll shoot tomorrow. I did some digging and it turned out that I did have a few .380" / .3805" cast bullets left along with some .377" / .378" so I'm loading the larger diameter bullets to try first.

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 15994 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #9 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 7:58pm	Print Post
	Reverend Al wrote on Jan 14^th, 2019 at 4:54pm: By the way, do you have any photos of what the proper rear sight elevator should look like? Are there any correct repro elevators available? (I suppose that an original would be tough to locate since they are likely an often "lost" part?) I used to have a source for reproduction elevators, but no longer have one. Here's a picture of the Marlin "harpoon" elevator that is correct for Marlins, some Remingtons, and also Savage 1899 rifles. This one happens to be on a Rolling Block I own. They show up on Ebay occasionally. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links) If you remove the forearm wood, Marlin serialized them on the back edge that mates to the receiver. Usually half the number on each side of the center hole for the wiping rod, or the nub on all other Ballard forearms.

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JLouis Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 10625 Joined: Apr 8^th, 2009	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #10 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 8:40pm	Print Post
	If having an example it should not be to difficult to make even if only have hand tools I would tend to think?

	" It Is Better To Now Have Been A Has Been Than A Never Was Or A Wanna Be "
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Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #11 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 10:12pm	Print Post
	I'm not a metal worker so I wouldn't attempt to make one, but now I know what to look for and can keep an eye out for a proper Marlin "harpoon" (like that term!) elevator. Just finished loading some test loads for tomorrow and found that the loaded rounds in WW brass with those .380" / .3805" cast bullets are really tight seating in the chamber for the last 3/8" or so. Might have to thin the case mouths a bit so that I can comfortably seat a large diameter bullet, or I might try to find some Starline brass since I understand that it tends to be a bit thinner at the mouth? The PO replied to my emailed questions and he said that he was shooting .379" cast bullets with SR4759. I can try that next time since I still have a bit of hoarded SR4759 tucked away. It's a shame it was discontinued as many of my other old rifles shoot well with it. Anyway, I'll try these IMR4198 test loads tomorrow and see what happens.

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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Reverend Al Oldtimer Offline Posts: 568 Location: Victoria BC Canada Joined: Jun 25^th, 2016	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #12 - Jan 14^th, 2019 at 10:19pm	Print Post
	By the way, has anyone ever done any load testing with H322 in the .38-55? I lucked into about 7 pounds of it from an estate at a reasonable price and being short grained it meters well through a powder measure. I have a large action Martini that was re-bored by Ron Smith in Alberta to .338 / .303 British and it LOVES H322 with cast bullets! I've shot several groups that went into one big hole shooting the 200 grain Lee .338 cast bullet and it's got me wondering how it might perform in the .38-55 as well ...

	I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't quite reached my "Expiry" date yet ...
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freebird Full Member Offline Posts: 117 Location: South West France Joined: Sep 12^th, 2014	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #13 - Jan 15^th, 2019 at 2:52am	Print Post
	Beautiful Pacific. And thanks to your post, I now know that I need to look for a complete rear sight for mine... Oh well...


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 15994 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Ballard No. 5 Pacific in .38-55 WCF ... Reply #14 - Jan 15^th, 2019 at 12:15pm	Print Post
	In desperation I have hand filed some harpoon elevators out over the years. Once the proper thickness material was sourced it's not an impossible task. There are some details that don't show in the picture I posted, like the little pointed tail at the base opposite end from that point. I found this one at Ebay that shows a good picture of the correct elevator. The seller might be a bit crazy on his price, but they do seem to get about half his asking price. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links)

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