As my post title states, it's either going to be 25 projects that I share, or projects in '25...

For openers, I'm revisiting a project that I started some time ago but never finished, was it in '23 or '24, I don't recall, it's been a blur.  It's one of the Storie Worn Ballard castings.  Originally I planned to make the one I had into a 22rf but plans change.  I purchased a few of the Worn castings before Rodney quit this venture and there's one a bit different that will be my 22rf.  Maybe it will be one of the 25 posted here.  The new caliber choice for this action at the moment is going to be a 25-21SS, (another 25 to go with the post title) Here's pics of a dash back to the breech block build and forward to current action status.  The plan is for it to wear a GM barrel, one that was already run through the mill last winter, I think.

Along the way I picked up a 25-21SS reamer and dies but not much for brass.  I think 20 pieces were purchased from RMC but I guard those close being the tite-wad I am.  I've turned a few from stock for one of my other rifles and I've traveled down the road of nibbing cases in the lathe, it's all labor intensive with marginal results.   
I bought a batch of 223 Basic brass from Starline in the past  and dabbled with them making 25-20SS but never got the sequences right for a good case.
I returned to George Nonte's book a few nights ago studying his description for lengthening brass cartridges.  He explains his method of enlarging the brass and using for lack of a better word, venturi effect to extrude it.  I spent a few late evening recently and tried several different methods, finally getting one to work.  There is a pile of scrap getting to the ends, but here's a few pics showing the dies I came up with.  At the base is a ring, that has the "venturi" cut in it, a punch that presses brass into that ring, a spacer that holds the punch at it's critical location and then a pusher rod that moves the brass through the ring.   
Pushing the Basic brass one time through I get a length increase of .100".  When the brass is swaged into the 7mm mauser die to start the initial 25-21 forming process it grows another .085".  In the final stages of forming in the 25-21 die itself, another .075" is gained in length.  From the original Basic  223 brass it makes a case for my 25-21SS that falls short of spec by only .025".  For now, I plan to shoot this cartridge breech seated and it's going to work fine for me.   
GT

Next project of 25...
My 44-2.5 Ballard has dished me fits at the most inopportune times, all because of the triggers... I had to finish one match a while ago by holding the hammer back with my thumb, wait for a good sight picture and let my thumb slide off the hammer, not a favorable condition for the offhand game.  My close couple set that I made for this rifle have failed, not once, but twice and on the second time around I couldn't seem to revived them.  Cycling them about 5000 times who'd have thought they'd be so problematic.  So for this rifle, I decided to change it up a little from my normal and make a single trigger, no setting or anything.
I scratched a design of what I thought a single should look like on a piece of 1/4 x 3/4" A2 tool steel and milled it up close to the line.  A little time with a file and I think it's going to work.  Drill some more holes, a little more tweaking, a small wire spring, a couple of screws and I'll be ready for the next match.
GT

Don’t forget to build a 28 G&H with the reamer that I paid for . 

So I guess I will have to call mine a 28 G&H long.  I have been laid up since Spokane with a sore back and haven’t had a chance to shoot it at the lower velocity. The one trip to the range with it was a bust since I left the seater at home. 

Looks like my cataract surgery won’t happen until December at the earliest. Assuming that goes well, I will have no excuse to get the DST high wall shooting well since Wes has a hit man on retainer to off me should I try and install scope blocks on it. 

Here's a couple pics of the next Ballard in my line-up, need a (really comfortable) offhand 22... Is there such a thing?  Whittled out a hammer configuration breech block for it one evening this week, it originally had a Worn Striker design in the package so it will probably end up with both.  The last pic compares the Worn dimensions to the original (Toe).
GT

Bob,
The rear screw hole is for the travel limiter and the front hole is for the spring.  Nothing sets on this design.  It's copying the Worn trigger, a screw with a thin, unslotted head top side with the threaded shank where it goes through the trigger plate slotted for adjustment.  The front hole is intended for a simple wire spring that rides on the trigger but so far it isn't needed.  My sear design has just enough spring and no part of the trigger engages the sear until it's pulled.  There's enough tension on the sear to keep the hammer engaged but enough tail length and long enough lever built into the trigger that a short motion and no effort on the trigger releases the hammer.  All this accidently worked out, but it's working better than I anticipated.

A couple more op's done to the bronze Ballard early this morning... squared up the recoil shoulder and machined the recess for the butt stock.  Make some more internal parts for this breechblock and fit up a barrel then it's more  wood
GT

This mystery lever looks pretty interesting. How was it cut out?

rodneys wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2025 at 8:39am:


Waterjet, we copied the one Westerner posted.

Yet some more junk to look at...

A little more time working the wood into it's radical shape and some mill work done on the mystery lever.  Both are ready for extensive file and rasp work.

GT

Absolutely amazing on the triggers. And, who (other than GT) would have thought to make a Helm lever for a Ballard? That's way beyond cool! It looks great!

Greg, looks like the Helm lever was cut out by the same place that did the mystery lever!  Looks good on this rifle.
Bob

I, on the other hand, am pretty sure that GT's other lever is the one normally associated with the Helm-style rifle. The Laudensack lever, I believe, ends in what for lack of a better description is an exaggerated "C".

Bill Lawrence

Not sure what I was thinking? I saw Helm lever, but was thinking Helm buttplate, and noticed Greg's appeared to be a Laudensak buttplate. Oops.

I was struggling getting a seater of the normal Ballard configuration to work in it and I’m not fond of installing a lug on the side of the receiver, nor do my sight bases incorporate anything extra.  Here’s a picture (or many) of the seater design I came up with for this project.

Another project to add to the 25…  Idle time waiting on a machine to finish cutting causes the mind to race.   
On one of my last Ballard builds, Ol’Lucky serial number 6777, I put a butt plate originally designed for a muzzle loader on it, a bronze casting I picked up from Track of the Wolf.  I really like the fit and feel of this one and I have ones similar to it on more than one of my Ballard builds, but there is a problem with it.  It qualifies as a “hooked” butt plate and some of the disciplines I compete in don’t allow that.  So rather than do something drastic like cut the hook off or try to make another non hook try to fit this, I thought maybe a pewter pour was in order.  I was running a little short on pewter and a roll of 95-5 is expensive.   I dug through my stashes and discovered I had quite a stock of babbit, from my bearing days.  Babbit pours fairly well just below 500°, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  Here's pics of both now.

Amazing...




JMH

Bob, 
The through bolt hole was a biggy on this, it made a means of removing the plate the first time, I poured it with the stock off the rifle, gentle tapping with a dowel through the stock made initial removal easy.  The cast plug offers a solid means of fitting the plate too.  I see one of these on a couple more Ballards and a Borchardt.
G

Greg,
My first Ballard had an aluminum double prong buttplate and I was contemplating cutting the top prong off, but decided to make a copy using casting resin.  I made a mould and poured one, cut off the top prong and painted it black.  It worked well until it sat prong down in my safe in the hot summer as the prong ended up bent almost flat