And the last two.

Wayne

Wayne,
If you’re shooting against me in a big bore match……….
It looks GREAT!!



Tom Klinger

marlinguy wrote on Jul 27^th, 2025 at 8:39pm:


Vall,

Although I have yet to contact the seller, I expect that's true.

Wayne

Wayne,
Check your emails…….


Tom

Guys,

After checking out the bore & sending the borescope photos (see earlier posting on this thread) to the seller, we worked out an agreement.  I'm keeping the rifle & plan to have it lined by Tom Klinger with a T.J liner & also have him fix the extractor.  But 1st I plan to work up 25 or 30 loads & run a ladder test to see how the the current barrel performs & if there's any bore leading compared to the earlier photos.  Will try to remember to update this thread afterwards.

BTW, I ladder test for shot placement & also velocity at 200yds with a 25X Lyman scope & that tiny Garmin XERO chrono (love it).

Wayne

My, new to me, Ballard came with a spare firing pin. It  looks substantial & there's a notch cut out of the bottom of the barrel rim to prevent the non-spring-loaded firing pin from hitting when opening the action.  So I'm curious as to why the extra pin? I would expect it to be uncommon to break a pin.

Not so with the Sharps which requires the hammer to be pulled back to the half-cock position prior to opening the action. I broke one before developing the habit of half-cocking the rifle after firing & opening the action.

Wayne

The John Dutcher book arrived this morning & I've spent several hours going through the complete book, reading some of the text & all photo captions.  What a great book.  So after checking out my rifle compared to the details & photo, here's what I concluded.

But 1st, understand that the rifle does not have the original barrel & wood.  From what I can tell Lee Shaver installed a Green Mountain barrel (his name is stamped under the forearm along with Green Mountain) & chambered it for .38-55.  Then John King rebuilt the rifle including setting the barrel back & rechambered it to .38-55 Long, polished & blued the barrel, inletted the English walnut stock & forearm from Treebone Carving to the receiver & barrel including inletting an ebony tip to the forearm & a beautiful case hardened butt plate.  He polished the action & parts for case hardening.  He sanded & finished the stock & forearm & case hardend the action & parts.

The seller indicated he was not satisfied with the bore & had JES rebore the barrel to .40cal, cut the grooves & chamber it for .40-65.  JES overstamped Lee Shaver's name with .40-65 & added 1:14.  If the condition of the bore is any indication of JES's work, they will never get their hands on one of my rifles.

So, after all that & reading Dutcher's book, since it does not have the original barrel & wood, the original rifle may have started out life as a #4, #5 Pacific or #6 Schuetzen.  The seller said it was a #4.

It has the following:
•      Late Marlin Ballard serial # (36316)
•      Forged steel frame
•      2-line address on the receiver: MARLINE FIRE ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN CT. U.S.A. over BALLARD’S.PATENT.NOV.5.1861
•      2nd style ring lever
•      Rebated ledge receiver
•      Large diameter firing pin screw
•      1 piece pivoting extractor
•      2nd type double-set trigger breechblock with reverse curve hammer
•      Thin double-set trigger mounting plate with very small adjusting screw & thin triggers.
•      The checkering on the top of the trigger does not match anything in Dutcher’s book.
•      Straight stock.
•      The beautiful case-hardened butt plate has very fine checkering outlined by a single line.  It does not match anything in Dutcher’s book.

Considering all the above its most likely started out as a #4 rifle as was indicated by the seller.

Wayne