Good deal Vall. Can't wait to see it completely finishjed and ready to shoot. Dale.

That looks fantastic. Al is finishing my sons Ballard No. 8 this next week and I hope to drive out and get it to avoid anything like you experienced.

That is one heck of a heavy barrel Vall. Its gonna be an easy 10 hr drive each way for me

Had quite the battle with the 3F today! Seems C. Sharps didn't quite finish fitting the barrel as the sliding 2 piece extractors usually fall into their hole and this one had to be tapped into the hole in my new barrel! I had to remove the barrel back off the action and use a drill bit spun with my fingers to clean out burrs, then dress the hole with a jeweler's file and it finally slide in with just light resistance. Then I had to file the bevel at 6 0'clock below the barrel breech to clearance the breech block as it rises.
After that I assembled the barrel and action again, and when I tried to close the lever it locked up! I removed the extractor and tried again, but same issue. I figured the tang was not screwed back in the right number of turns, so backed it off one turn, but same thing again. Tried two turns, and all sorts of variations and still the lever wouldn't close and action locked up. I slid the buttstock on and it wouldn't seat against the receiver, so I turned it in until it did and it almost wanted to close. Used a screwdriver through the tang hole to give the block an assist and it closed!
Took it back apart and cleaned inside the receiver, and put a little lithium grease on the back of the tang, and it closed, but only if I snapped the lever shut. I snapped it shut a dozen times and suddenly it began working when operated slowly? Still not sure what was going on as I've never run into this on any Ballard before?
Got the forearm shaped down, but couldn't take it down like a factory forearm because of the larger barrel. So I left more wood on the forearm to make it stronger as it would have been paper thin at the sides if I worked it down to the receiver width. It is receiver width where it meets, but I made it sort of rounded down to size so it's stronger.
Need to begin applying some N35 reddish tint, and then my Wipe On Poly wet sanded until it matches the buttstock.

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Got my NOS original Ballard Vernier tang sight with Merit aperture, and wind gauge spirit level front globe on it. Been saving these for the right project for awhile!

A very lovely rifle, Vall.  But while I understand why you shaped its sides  as you did, I think that leaving the forearm "hanging" below the bottom of the frame looks awkward.  Can that area be thinned down without compromising the forearm?

Bill Lawrence

Testament to why you like the Ballard so much. That is a fine looking rifle. Hope it shoots as good as it looks...




JMH

ssdave wrote on Mar 9^th, 2025 at 12:34am:


I've had C Sharps fit barrels on a few guns previously and they came out great, but haven't had them do any in probably 5 years. I found a local friend who was doing this work, but he passed away last May, so I had Al take care of it this time, and he uses C Sharps. Al told me he cringes anytime a gun needs barrel work as he always hopes it comes back perfect. He used Curt Hardcastle and said everything Curt did was always perfect, not matter what the machine work was.
It wasn't hard to fix the barrel issues, but I felt I shouldn't have to finish work you paid to be finished. I'm just puzzled how anyone thought that the extractor hole was right when the extractor wouldn't go in the hole without being driven in with a punch? Even a beginner knows an extractor should move freely.