Here is an interesting Ballard I purchased off Gunbroker. It looks like it started life as a number 8 Union Hill.

The breechblock was converted to rimfire. It was fitted with a 22LR Winchester #3 barrel but never drilled for attaching a forearm. The front dovetail was cut for the pictured FN Martin front globe sight which has a base smaller than the typical 3/8”.

I think the stock is original to the action because the swiss plate serial number matches the action, but somehow it was modified and shortened up where it meets the action and theres no seriel number stamp.

They topped it off with an original Soule sight, serial number 18.

F.N. Martin front sight. Insert appears modern and I have seen this style but cannot remember who makes it.

And here’s the cute finger rest. 

I shot the rifle today off the bench sighting it in. Last 5 shot group was under 1/2” at 50 yards with CCI SV. I also have a spare Original Ballard forearm from another project that is slightly longer and has a narrower barrel channel inlet so I hope to be able to shorten it and open it up to fit this barrel.

You are right Jerry, the insert is a Sharps style. I plan on replacing with a Winchester globe. My plan is to use this gun to practice my offhand shooting so I would like things close to how my others are configured

I think he stated a "finger rest?"...





JMH

Nice looking Ballard there.

Could it be a Soule base for a Ballard?

.

rifleman wrote on Mar 10^th, 2024 at 1:33pm:


I have a lot of Ballard rifles with tang sights and that base isn't like any of them. The forward half looks similar to the thick bases used, but back looks like the thin bases. So it's obviously not a Ballard base as they'd be the same appearance front of the staff as to the rear of the staff. 
If you look on p.288 of Dutcher's book the first sight on the left has the more common thick base, and the one to the right has the thin base. Yours appears to have one end thinned down, and not shaped correctly. But they still didn't make a Soule, regardless.

As for a "Soule base" they don't exist that I know of? The staffs have the Soule adjustment in them, not the bases.

John shows one Soule sight on p.287 and it does look like yours, but I don't think it is something made by Marlin. The few old catalogs I have for Marlin rifles in the 1880's don't show any Soule sights offered. 
I suppose the sight may be something offered by some company, but if it's a true Soule, he didn't even patent his Soule sight until August of 1889, and the Ballard rifles only lasted another year after that. So most rifles didn't get a Soule offered until at least 1890, regardless of the brand or model.
That said, I think your sight is likely a rare Soule built by JW Soule, as it looks much like his patent sight I found in Tom Rowe's book on old gunsights.

westerner wrote on Mar 10^th, 2024 at 7:11pm:


That's what I said in my last post Joe. That's why I told rifleman he appeared to have a Soule sight made by JW Soule. On the 2nd page of the book Tom has a picture of JW Soule's patent, and one of his sights.

They welded up the firing pin channel and redrilled at a slight downward angle using the original firing pin.   

The center fire extractor was also retained, welded up and reshaped. It has not caused me any issues so far. I do have to flick the empty out the last bit with my fingernail but it is not nearly as bad as the Hepburn 22lr I owned.

Schutzenbob wrote on Mar 10^th, 2024 at 2:55pm:


Here's another rare one on an 1894 Winchester barrel that was also marked H. M. Pope.

This is the top flat of my 22 gallery rifle barrel.

Schuetzenbob  Nifty Pope cuts also, original I presume?

rkba2nd wrote on Mar 12^th, 2024 at 1:54pm:


Pope wasn't the only one using the scallop cuts for scope mounting. Schoyen & Peterson also used them. But for some reason Schoyen & Peterson only used them for their rear scope mounts, and had typical holes D&T for the front mounts. I have a couple Schoyen barreled Ballards with those cuts at the rear location. Always guessed the AW Peterson scopes and mounts maybe used them?

rkba2nd wrote on Mar 12^th, 2024 at 6:55pm:


No, unlike Pope, Schoyen built all his barrels. Where Pope often purchased bored and un-rifled barrels from Winchester so he could final bore and rifle them.

Ok..... how do you use the rest? Looks like it is very close to the trigger. Perhaps the question is how do you press the trigger when it is blocked by the rest?

On very light triggers, 2 oz or less, it is very difficult to come on to the trigger from the front, especially if you have or have had Carpel Tunnel. Many times, it will break, before you know your on it.

What I would do, is come in from the side of the trigger, with a little forward pressure, until I felt the trigger and then adjusted my feel of it until I knew when it would break. The finger rest allows you to do something similar to that.

I am very much enjoying this Ballard. The finger rest works just as described above and I think is a help. I have been shooting ten rounds through it every day the weather has allowed over the last few weeks after screwing a round metal plate to a fence post so I can step out of my reloading room and shoot.

I purchased the rifle expressly to practice and improve my offhand shooting and wanted a gun as close to my centerfire Ballards as possible. Having an original Soule sight and being priced right was a bonus. The finger rest may prove to be a detriment to my shooting when I move to the other rifles that dont have it.

I have George at Treebone carving making me a forearm. When that is fitted it should feel exactly like my others. The barrel has never been drilled for a forearm.

GT, I was afraid to say it, but I am considering after the forearm is fitted, Inletting the bottom of the barrel channel with a couple small round powerful magnets. If they’re strong enough they’d hold while shooting, yet I could keep the rifle just as it is and has been for what appears to be a long time. Not sure why it’s nagging at me not to alter it.

rifleman wrote on Mar 30^th, 2024 at 7:58am:


I like that idea. There's some amazingly strong small button magnets to be had. The only concern for me would be would they be strong enough to keep the fore arm from sliding back firmly against the face of the receiver in the course of handling/jostling/shooting - a distinct no-no in terms of maintaining consistent accuracy.

Id Inlet and glue the magnets into the forearm, not the barrel Vall. It was just an idea I considered.

I meant the clamp that goes entirely around the barrel and wood and is removeable to keep from having to drill a stock or barrel. You know, Joe had some cast up and was offering them for guys to buy. I think Jerry Hartwig bought one and finished it up. Anyhow, it would clamp the whole sheebang together and just look like a partial accessory.
I do possess a pair of magnets that would do the job of holding a forearm. We used them in safety switches on ski lifts. I laugh at folks who try to separate them with their fingers. I already warned them of the danger of blood blisters when they pop back together with some finger still in the space! Powerful little buggers. Wish I had a dozen more.

well, it would be pretty thin wood when you got done. might rupture the wood when you tried to remove the forestock. nothing's perfect. What I want to ask about this rifle is: why the worry about modifying it with a screw hole? Its already not even a Ballard barrel, and that's a far bigger modification than a screw hole.

I'd have to agree with that. Now, get out your pocket knife and start whittlin' that chunk of lumber out in the barn, aging since the turn of the century. Ought to be ready.

Perfect shooting conditions this morning. 50 yards off the bench with CCI SV 22LR Christmas 2016 lot. Best I can do. Tried my offhand on paper too, got some work to do in that respect.