It’s my understanding that the Ballard Rifle and Cartridge Company acquired the rights to the Ballard Rifle name so they are not clones.  Maybe “continuations” .
Regardless, they produced excellent rifles likely as good or better than Marlin.  They were not inexpensive 20 years ago and seem to hold their value today. I think that is a testament to the people who produced them.
JMHO.
Mike.

As an aside, does anybody know the total number of Cody Ballards that were manufactured?

I have one, and it's sublime!

The serial number of mine is 1089.

Curl

4570mike wrote on Oct 6^th, 2020 at 7:45pm:


I think they discovered that nobody owned the name, and simply registered it to themselves. Thus sealing the deal for their own use, and any future use by others.

They were as good, and even better than originals because of modern metallurgy, and the talent of some of the finest modern gunsmiths of that time. Not sure any company could assemble such a group today! But I do think the possibility of building a quality Ballard is real. Just what it would cost, and who could build them?

I had 5 Cody Ballards that were part of a friend's estate years ago. He told his wife to get them to me to sell; which I did. Along with his guns were all the original paperwork from late 1990's to early 2000's. I personally was shocked at how reasonably priced the guns were! His were all high grade models that had better wood, set triggers, checkering, and better finish. And his .22 had a receipt with it from 1998 for under $2,000. He had a beautiful #6 with crescent buttplate in .38-50, #4 in .45-70, #6 in .40-65, and a Schoyen in .22LR. None of them was over $2900 new price.
Even back 15-20 yrs. ago I found these prices reasonable for the high end finish, and high quality. And several were ordered with MVA sights on them from Cody.

willsweptline wrote on Oct 7^th, 2020 at 11:03pm:


You might contact The Rifle Shoppe and see what their receivers go for? They're pre-Marlin style, but not sure which Ballard they copied?

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Might as well throw in my two cents worth . . . 
Consider contacting Rodney Storie.
rodney4477@yahoo.com
He has offered Ballard action steel castings in the past. Perhaps he has a set of castings on hand?
While his actions would require significant work to finish, they should be better than starting from scratch.

While on the subject, may i pose a question re: mainsprings? I bought a roller mainspring from Steve Earle (a nicely rendered work of art, IMO), but it is decidedly heavier in cross section than the original in my #3 action. Hammer fall is definitely snappier (and probably a cure for the occasional light strike/misfire I experience), but trigger pull went from a delectable scant 2 pounds to an unacceptable 5 pounds. (Firing pin nose looks fine by the way.) I put the original spring back in because I'm not comfortable attacking the sear geometry with stones. Recommendations? Earle's "regular" spring, one from the Rifle Shoppe, or just live with it?

RSW wrote on Oct 8^th, 2020 at 2:49pm:



I just ordered a Ballard ST casting set from Rodney yesterday, but I understood this was the last set he currently had on hand. It also sounds like his casting endeavors are getting more attention since he retired last year. Here's a photo of the Ballard kit he emailed me last week:

As an aside, Ron Long used my engraved Ballard action as the model for Cody Ballards.  He and Neil Rice built me a fabulous .22 on that action with a Ron Smith barrel.  John Dutcher had one almost identical.