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My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) (Read 1692 times)

desertmoon Junior Member Offline Posts: 67 Location: Arizona Joined: Jul 8^th, 2019	My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Dec 8^th, 2024 at 3:48pm	Print Post
	Well. The big old SAR Show ( Small Arms Review Magazine ) was in Phoenix yesterday so my Girlfriend and I went for bagels and then spent ALLLLLLLL day there. (then we went for sushi!!!) There were sooo many goodies this year. I wish I could have taken a lot more money with me! Anyhow. I ended up with a No 2 Marlin Ballard in .32 Long (which I knew was going to be a challenge) that has the most AMAZING bore I have personally ever seen on a 19th Century gun!!!! I am currently working with the INCREDIBLE ASSRA Facebook group on slugging, chamber casting and a few other things in order to find the most efficient way to shoot this thing without changing ANYTHING on this beautiful beast! ...and yup, I already pulled the block to make sure it was set on center fire! ( It is )


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TomKlinger Full Member Offline Posts: 101 Location: Central Florida Joined: Feb 17^th, 2019	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #1 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 4:03pm	Print Post
	Congratulations!! Tom Klinger


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 16448 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #2 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 4:24pm	Print Post
	And so it begins! The first of what may well be many more! The .32 Long can be made by swaging down .32 S&W Long, or possibly finding some .32 Long Colt brass. There was a fella on Gunbroker who was sizing down brass and selling it there, and if he still is that's the route I'd take. You likely wont find heeled bullets, but both Accurate and NEI both sell a heeled bullet mold for this cartridge. I have an original Ideal, and an NEI and both are great molds for the .32 long.

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desertmoon Junior Member Offline Posts: 67 Location: Arizona Joined: Jul 8^th, 2019	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #3 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 4:29pm	Print Post
	marlinguy wrote on Dec 8^th, 2024 at 4:24pm: And so it begins! The first of what may well be many more! The .32 Long can be made by swaging down .32 S&W Long, or possibly finding some .32 Long Colt brass. There was a fella on Gunbroker who was sizing down brass and selling it there, and if he still is that's the route I'd take. You likely wont find heeled bullets, but both Accurate and NEI both sell a heeled bullet mold for this cartridge. I have an original Ideal, and an NEI and both are great molds for the .32 long. I have a couple hundred .32 S&W long cartridges. Now I need to find an old Revolver or a G1 Contender barrel in either .32SW L OR .32 H and R Magnum so I can expend the cartridges.... THEN I get to size them down, etc. etc. etc. So much fun.


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rifleman Full Member Offline Posts: 216 Joined: Aug 4^th, 2015	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #4 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 6:40pm	Print Post
	Congratulations. I love your enthusiasm. Ballards are great.


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desertmoon Junior Member Offline Posts: 67 Location: Arizona Joined: Jul 8^th, 2019	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #5 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 8:08pm	Print Post
	I have all kinds of crazy projects. They keep me sane!


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gnoahhh Oldtimer Offline Posts: 844 Location: Gaithersburg, MD Joined: Mar 31^st, 2010	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #6 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 8:22pm	Print Post
	I was one of the guys who coached you on Facebook. When you get some cases in hand let me know and I'll forward some heeled bullets for you to try, 85 grains from a custom Accurate mold.


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desertmoon Junior Member Offline Posts: 67 Location: Arizona Joined: Jul 8^th, 2019	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #7 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 8:53pm	Print Post
	Copy that, Sir! Thank you! I am going to plug away at this bit by bit over 2025, I am working on or have completed the following in the past few weeks: 1885 Winder Musket (ooh, gotta still glue to stock though) 822 Hopkins and Allen and a No 4 Rolling Block take down. All are fully functional or an hour's work from being functional. They are ALL going off for liners in 2025. (toasted bores, the lot of 'em) In between that, I am going to get the loading supplies for the Ballard. I have Cerrosafe and a ladle on the way already and I slugged the bore today. ( .3105 nominal and .3100 just past the lead ) I will try to cast the chamber and lead and lay it out dimensionally next weekend. Again, thank you so much for your help. That includes everyone!!! Much appreciated!


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JerryH Frequent Elocutionist Offline ASSRA Member #10876 Posts: 1260 Location: Easton, CA Joined: Nov 9^th, 2014	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #8 - Dec 8^th, 2024 at 9:27pm	Print Post
	desertmoon, I too welcome your enthusiasm. Your Ballard is a fine start to a slippery slope. As marlinguy (an enabler ) pointed out, it will not be your last Ballard rifle. You will find plenty of good help and advice here.

	I'm not a complete idiot, some of my parts are missing.
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Green_Frog Frequent Elocutionist Offline "It ain't easy being green" ASSRA Life #281 Posts: 4077 Location: Lynchburg, VA Joined: Apr 18^th, 2004	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #9 - Dec 9^th, 2024 at 11:29am	Print Post
	That is indeed a sweet Ballard! Since it is in such nice original condition, I would agree that it would be worth the cost and effort to make ammo for it, especially if you cast and reload already. The molds now available from some of the “boutique” mould makers solve a problem we had finding bullets in the old days, and brass can be had easily, especially if you’re willing to reform 32 S&W L brass. Froggie PS. I’ve got a couple of hundred nice clean 32 S&W L cases I could swap you for that nasty old loaded ammo to save you the cost and effort of buying a pistol and shooting it up yourself. No no, don’t thank me, I’m just that kind of nice guy!


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 16448 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #10 - Dec 9^th, 2024 at 2:31pm	Print Post
	If you reform your own .32 S&W Long brass it will need to be formed right down to the rim as sitting in a shell holder wont allow them to be fully sized and chamber. That can be a real ordeal to size them down sitting on top of the shell holder, and then somehow press the formed cases out of the die afterwards! Not sure how the guy on GB does them, but it might be worth searching for them if you don't get them sized down.

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digitall423 Oldtimer Online Posts: 747 Location: Mexico Beach, FL Joined: Aug 5^th, 2005	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #11 - Dec 9^th, 2024 at 6:12pm	Print Post
	The guy on the cast boo lit forum has some reformed 32 Colt long brass for sale.


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rgchristensen Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1116 Joined: Jan 2^nd, 2014	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #12 - Dec 9^th, 2024 at 7:04pm	Print Post
	32 S&W to 32 Colt..... Turn the webs, THEN size the cases, and you are all set. CHRIS


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desertmoon Junior Member Offline Posts: 67 Location: Arizona Joined: Jul 8^th, 2019	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #13 - Dec 9^th, 2024 at 8:17pm	Print Post
	Green_Frog wrote on Dec 9^th, 2024 at 11:29am: That is indeed a sweet Ballard! Since it is in such nice original condition, I would agree that it would be worth the cost and effort to make ammo for it, especially if you cast and reload already. The molds now available from some of the “boutique” mould makers solve a problem we had finding bullets in the old days, and brass can be had easily, especially if you’re willing to reform 32 S&W L brass. Froggie PS. I’ve got a couple of hundred nice clean 32 S&W L cases I could swap you for that nasty old loaded ammo to save you the cost and effort of buying a pistol and shooting it up yourself. No no, don’t thank me, I’m just that kind of nice guy! I was gonna find a .32 Contender barrel to shoot them out of but all of the custom Contender barrels in .32 are .308" diameter. Heck....my Ballard is .310!!! The Smith and Wesson ammo is around .3135. 308 bore diameter does NOT compute!!!!


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desertmoon Junior Member Offline Posts: 67 Location: Arizona Joined: Jul 8^th, 2019	Re: My First Ballard!!!! ( a No. 2 ) Reply #14 - Dec 9^th, 2024 at 8:18pm	Print Post
	marlinguy wrote on Dec 9^th, 2024 at 2:31pm: If you reform your own .32 S&W Long brass it will need to be formed right down to the rim as sitting in a shell holder wont allow them to be fully sized and chamber. That can be a real ordeal to size them down sitting on top of the shell holder, and then somehow press the formed cases out of the die afterwards! Not sure how the guy on GB does them, but it might be worth searching for them if you don't get them sized down. Betcha 5 bucks he has a roll sizer. I don't even wanna know what those cost!


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