WTS: Ballard Project

[longusmc]

I had intentions of building a 40-65 on this; however, there are just too many other projects pilling up. Some of those still need parts to finish, so this one is on the chopping block. This is an earlier model with dual ignition (percussion and rimfire) Its hard to read and I did what I could to tray and capture the manufacturers scroll. I believe it is a Merrimack Arms Co. rifle. The barrel is not worth anything and there are probably some other parts missing. I can send additional pics to interested parties. I'm asking $275 shipped, no FFL required for antiques. Open to reasonable offers and trades.

205332

205333

205334

Items of interest for trade.

Barrel Blanks
.257 1-10 twist
.308 1-10 twist
.338 1-9 twist

Sproter stock for an intermediate mauser (like a Yugo).

Thanks for looking

[longusmc]

Sunday Bump.

[ascast]

interested please send more pics pm sent

[longusmc]

Pics sent.

[seahawk]

please send pics of your ballard

[longusmc]

Pics sent. To the top.

[longusmc]

Weekend bump.

[longusmc]

Bump with price drop.

[longusmc]

To the top.

[Gussy]

Is this a cast action. If it is, it is unsafe for much other than rimfire. Just trying to prevent another accident like I saw several years back.

[longusmc]

I can not tell if it is cast or not. Either way it should be safe for black powder cartridges. The barrel is for a large caliber cartridge between .40 ans .45 would have to measure it again later.

[pull the trigger]

I believe Marlin was the only one to make any centerfire Ballards and he had the patent for the switching firing pin. I am very curious as to what it is. Enough so that if I had the money I would buy it. I love the Ballards. No matter what maker it is it still would make angreat 22lr

[longusmc]

Hard to get an accurate measurement given the condidition. Diameter ranges from .460-.500. This is a dual ignition Ballard, percussion and rimfire.

[40-82 hiker]

I can not tell if it is cast or not.

Finding mold marks would be quite definitive. Don't know what those would look like myself, however. There is something about the "stamped address" that is also definitive to a great extent (?), but can't remember what that is. I read about this "cast iron" identification a few years ago, but never even held a Ballard. Can't remember where I read it...

[2152hq]

You have a 'pre-Marlin' Ballard rifle.
The Ballard was originally made by the Ball & Williams Co. Worcester,MA. Some carbines used in the CW.
A couple other companys also mfg'rd the pre-MArlin Ballard.
-Merrimack Arms & Mfg Co, Newburyport, Mass
-Brown Mfg Co, Newburyport, Mass.

Yours is a Merrimack Arms & Mfg Co marked rifle ,,but not without some out of timeline discrepencies in the design..I'll explain below.

Brown Mfg Co was the last maker of the pre-Marlin Ballard before the firm went out of biz in 1873 or '74.
Schoverling & Daly of NYC bought the rights at auction.
They are the ones that brought J MArlin into the picture to revive the BAllard. Marlin made several changes to the design.

Here's where the oddity of the OP rifle comes in.
The pre-marlin Ballard used cast in place upper and lower tangs and the stock was attached via the tangs w/ screws. The tangs were part of the frame.
One of Marlins improvements was to use the separate through bolt stock attachment with internal bolt shank and to elliminate the frame tangs all together.
Also, the rifle looks to have a J Marlin era breech block in it,,Not the pre-Marlin Ballard style breech block a Merrimack rifle would have had.
(pre-Marlin Ballards use a 'V' mainspring inside the breech block,,the Marlin era use a single leaf flat spring)
The use of the Marlin breechblock would make sense in this case as the rear of the block needs the interior ledge of that through bolt stock attachment arbor to seat onto.
Not a basement gunsmith job to convert over to the throughbolt type as that arbor is threaded into the rear of the frame.

The underlever is pre-Marlin
The extractor appears to be the pre-MArlin Ballard under bbl manual push style.

Why a Merrimack mfg rifle would have Marlin style stock attachment fitment is a question to me.
Maybe an old Merrimack frame being used up by JM?,,but Merrimack wasn't the last maker of the Ballard before foreclosure,,Brown Mfg was. So it would have been stuck away for a long time. Or some other answer,,,

The frames on the pre-Marlin Ballards are cast. Some say cast iron,,some list it as cast steel.
That they are cast is no doubt,
The Marlin Ballards were made of both cast iron and of forged steel.
You can tell the difference in the frame by looking up inside the frame just forward of the lever & breechblock Underneath the bbl thread ring).
If there is a hollow area in there, it's a cast frame. If it is solid it's a forged frame.

Some Pre-Marlin Ballards had a dual firing pin system for use with RF cartridge or percussion cap.
JM improved on this also but his system was to be able to fire either the RF or CF version of a cartridge. I don't think he bothered with the percussion aspect of the conversion block.
Many early rifles have been further aftermarket gunsmithed to make them shootable with centerfire cartridges and other convertible breech block firingpin systems.

Interesting rifle and would make a great restoration project.
Any conversion to a modern caliber I would keep to a very mild pressure in defference to the age and questionable material of the gun.
It is deffinetly from the BP era, I'd guess around 1870 to 1880,, give or take a couple years.
That covers from about the middle of pre-Marlin mfg to the middle of J Marlin Ballard mfg.

Just my observations..

[redneck1]

Pm on the way

[pull the trigger]

2152hq, thanks for the lesson!!