ASSRA Forum › General › General Discussion › .44-75 Ballard Brass
(Moderator Group: Moderator)
‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›
Page Index Toggle Pages: [1] 2  Send TopicPrint
Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) .44-75 Ballard Brass (Read 3251 times)
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
.44-75 Ballard Brass
Jul 25th, 2021 at 7:02pm
Print Post  
I just got back from a big gunshow near DC. About 90% of what is there is crap. But a few nuggets always seem to hidden among it. As I strolled past a gun collector club's table, I saw a couple plastic bags full of brass. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the word BALLARD written on the bags. It was stated to be new made .44-75 Ballard. 20 unfired, 30 fired. 

I only have one Ballard, a .44 rimfire. Admittedly, I know very little about Ballards, and nothing about this cartridge. I didnt need it, but they were so cheap that I just couldnt walk away. The unfired cases are stamped 45 Basic, the others have no headstamp. 

An interesting find. Maybe I need to start looking for a rifle to go with the brass  Grin
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
marlinguy
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline


Ballards may be weaker,
but they sure are neater!

Posts: 16004
Location: Oregon
Joined: Feb 2nd, 2009
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #1 - Jul 25th, 2021 at 7:30pm
Print Post  
Probably one of the rarest calibers to find in a forged Ballard. Hope you find one, but don't hold your breath until you do!
  
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #2 - Jul 26th, 2021 at 9:51am
Print Post  
So what is the bore/groove size of these Ballard .44-75 rifles?  Are they similar to a Sharps/Remington .44-77?
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
marlinguy
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline


Ballards may be weaker,
but they sure are neater!

Posts: 16004
Location: Oregon
Joined: Feb 2nd, 2009
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #3 - Jul 26th, 2021 at 1:44pm
Print Post  
Since they were paper patch barrels, they used a @.446" diameter bullet with two wraps of paper, which ended up @.452" diameter. The groove diameter of the barrels usually runs around that groove diameter for most Ballard .44 rifle caliber barrels.
  
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #4 - Jul 26th, 2021 at 2:26pm
Print Post  
marlinguy wrote on Jul 26th, 2021 at 1:44pm:
Since they were paper patch barrels, they used a @.446" diameter bullet with two wraps of paper, which ended up @.452" diameter. The groove diameter of the barrels usually runs around that groove diameter for most Ballard .44 rifle caliber barrels.


Thanks Vall!
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Spud
Senior Forum Member
****
Offline



Posts: 494
Location: Australia Oz
Joined: Feb 24th, 2005
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #5 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 7:22am
Print Post  
Nice find Ndnchf. Could you do me a big favor and measure the dimensions of one of the fired .44/75 cases? I'd like to compare it with the chamber cast from my Ballard Pacific. Previous owner told me it was a .44/75 but I'm still trying to figure out what it actually is. It's a real oddball with a bore dia. of .422" & groove of .434" with a long freebore section.
Spud
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #6 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 7:41am
Print Post  
Spud - I measured 2 fired cases, this is what I found. As can be seen in the above photo, it has a slight bottleneck.
Steve

  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Spud
Senior Forum Member
****
Offline



Posts: 494
Location: Australia Oz
Joined: Feb 24th, 2005
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #7 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 7:48am
Print Post  
Thanks Steve....boy, that was quick work! That's a big help. I didn't realise that the .44/75 had that bottle neck.
Pete
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #8 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 8:09am
Print Post  
Apparently so. It can be seen on the unfired case, but it is more pronounced in the fireformed case. I wish I knew what rifle they were fired in.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
marlinguy
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline


Ballards may be weaker,
but they sure are neater!

Posts: 16004
Location: Oregon
Joined: Feb 2nd, 2009
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #9 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 10:28am
Print Post  
.44-75 Ballard is not a bottleneck case, so if the cases has a bottleneck it wasn't fired in an original .44-75 Ballard chamber. 
Dutcher shows most of the factory cartridges onp.308-309 of his book, and you can see it's a straight walled cartridge. There were Ballard rifles chambered in bottleneck cases, but I believe none of them were Ballard chamberings.

Spud,
That's a very odd cartridge. Is this an original barrel, or has it been rebarreled, or modified? I'm unaware of any Ballard with a groove around .434"? The length seems right for some Ballard cartridges, but not much else. Looks similar to .40-72 Win., but the groove is too small on the .40-72. Wonder if somebody recut the rifling to repair a bad bore?
  
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #10 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 5:46pm
Print Post  
Well these definately have a slight bottleneck. They must have been used in a non-original barrel. No matter, they can be reformed to something more useful if needed. I paid $20 for all, so it was still a great deal  Smiley
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Spud
Senior Forum Member
****
Offline



Posts: 494
Location: Australia Oz
Joined: Feb 24th, 2005
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #11 - Jul 29th, 2021 at 1:24am
Print Post  
Vall, I agree that this chambering in my Pacific is really odd. The barrel appears to be original Marlin with matching serial number to action. I suppose it could have been an old recut but why to those specs? Makes no sense at all. The closest cartridge I can find is the Rem .44/90 or 100 straight (2.60" case) but again that is listed as using a .442" PP bullet.
Anyway it shoots well.
Pete
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
marlinguy
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline


Ballards may be weaker,
but they sure are neater!

Posts: 16004
Location: Oregon
Joined: Feb 2nd, 2009
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #12 - Jul 29th, 2021 at 10:36am
Print Post  
Spud wrote on Jul 29th, 2021 at 1:24am:
Vall, I agree that this chambering in my Pacific is really odd. The barrel appears to be original Marlin with matching serial number to action. I suppose it could have been an old recut but why to those specs? Makes no sense at all. The closest cartridge I can find is the Rem .44/90 or 100 straight (2.60" case) but again that is listed as using a .442" PP bullet.
Anyway it shoots well.
Pete


Same here. I looked through all my references and found similar case dimensions, but with larger necks, and bullet diameters. 
As long as you have a bullet that shoots well, and can load for it, that's all that really matters.
  
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Crown-C
Senior Forum Member
****
Online



Posts: 488
Location: St. Marys Kansas
Joined: Apr 6th, 2009
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #13 - Jul 29th, 2021 at 2:52pm
Print Post  
Well, this may confuse the issue even more! In my cartridge collection of mostly Ballards the 44-77 Farrington looks very similar. It doesn’t have a headstamp and I’m not familiar with the cartridge. It does have the slight bottleneck. Below are photos of it and it’s dimensions. Experts, you’re welcome to chime in here!
Corrected two measurements, the head diameter should be .620 and the length of brass 2.24 inches.
« Last Edit: Jul 29th, 2021 at 7:00pm by Crown-C »  
Richard
Crown-C Ranch in the Flinthills
NRA Life Member
ASSRA Member # 10366
Member & Founders Society, Cody Firearms Museum
Veteran
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
ndnchf
Frequent Elocutionist
*****
Offline



Posts: 1017
Joined: Mar 6th, 2014
Re: .44-75 Ballard Brass
Reply #14 - Jul 29th, 2021 at 3:10pm
Print Post  
The Farrington's rim diameter is only .005" greater than the base?
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: [1] 2 
Send TopicPrint
‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›
 
  « Board Index ‹ Board Top  

ASSRA Forum » Powered by YaBB 2.6.12!
YaBB Forum Software © 2000-2024. All Rights Reserved.

Valid RSS Valid XHTML Valid CSS Powered by Perl Source Forge

Page completed in 0.5200 seconds.