Gathering parts

[blackbahart]

Nice rifles

[marlinman93]

Nice rifles

Thanks!

This one is my #6 1/2 Rigby Ballard in .40-63 Ballard Everlasting:





Schoyen Ballard in .32-40:



Pope Ballard 3 barrel takedown set:





Probably enough for now.

[Chill Wills]

Thanks. Very nice for sure.
When I asked about any others?, I was talking about Creedmoors, However, I am ALWAYS glad to see good collections. In fact I wish more pictures would be included with posts!

Thanks for sharing!

[marlinman93]

Thanks. Very nice for sure.
When I asked about any others?, I was talking about Creedmoors, However, I am ALWAYS glad to see good collections. In fact I wish more pictures would be included with posts!

Thanks for sharing!

Sorry, misunderstood. I don't have but the one Ballard Creedmoor #7. I have another Rolling Block with 34" barrel, single set trigger, and in .44-77Rem-Sharps Bottleneck, but it's an extra heavy barrel, not a lightweight 1/2 octagon like the Creedmoor was.

[blackbahart]

that rigby ballard is kinda really awsome !and the others are great TOOOO

[ericp]

Marlinman,
I love seeing the neat old rifles you turn up! You really have an outstanding collection of single shots. Very high on my bucket list is a 44 1/2 in 32-40 as a mentor of mine had one and I think its about the classiest rig going.

Eric

[marlinman93]

Marlinman,
I love seeing the neat old rifles you turn up! You really have an outstanding collection of single shots. Very high on my bucket list is a 44 1/2 in 32-40 as a mentor of mine had one and I think its about the classiest rig going.

Eric

Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

The Stevens 44 1/2 is a very nice gun in .32-40. I don't seem to see them often in that caliber, as most I see are in Stevens calibers more than more popular .32-40 and .38-55 calibers. I've owned some Stevens single shot rifles over the decades, and used to have quite few before I narrowed down my collecting. I sold my engraved Walnut Hill 49 in .22LR, and my 52 in .25-21 about 18 months ago. The last of my Stevens rifles I still had.

[marlinman93]

Had a setback on my Rolling Block project! Got a call this morning telling me the receiver is cracked in the thread area. I called a friend to ask if he had a spare receiver, and he told me he'd sell me back the one I sold him last year! So now I'm getting my parts back from Al Springer, and hopefully will be able to assemble one good action from the new action I'm getting, plus parts from the old action.
I'll have to do all the hours of shaping the top tang down to civilian narrower/thinner style, and also fit my pistol grip lower tang too. Plus get a rotary extractor, as my cracked action was a bar sliding extractor.
Not looking forward to the work, and more expense, but not much choice either.

[marlinman93]

The action on the right in this image is the one I'll work over to use now.




It was a large shank .43 Mauser action previously. My friend milled the sides to clean it up, and recut the top to octagon like a civilian action.

[blindeye]

Wouldn't you also need a rotary extractor breech block; to pair with the new frame and rotary extractor? Or perhaps you already have one and I missed that part.

[marlinman93]

Wouldn't you also need a rotary extractor breech block; to pair with the new frame and rotary extractor? Or perhaps you already have one and I missed that part.

Yes, all the internal parts came with this receiver. But the rotary extractor is missing, so I'll need to get a black powder rotary. I have a smokeless rotary extractor with the retaining screw slot, but they're too large for a BP breech block and receiver.

[marlinman93]

Received my cracked action back from Al yesterday. I'm not sure how I missed this crack, as it's pretty obvious in the thread shank!



But not so obvious at all on the bottom side. So I'll use that excuse for not catching it.



The crack goes from the ramrod stop hole back. It looks straight through, and yet from the bottom the crack took careful searching with a good light and magnifier to locate it on the right edge of the receiver. So it's not straight down, but down at about a 45 degree angle! It's less straight on the bottom side also, so not sure if it was a metal defect, or caused by that hole they used on early military actions to attach the ramrod stop. Later actions used a flat spring to retain the ramrod, so guessing they figured out this was a weak spot and the hole made them prone to breaking?
I'll sort through parts for both actions and begin contouring the hammer and block spurs again to make them like the sporting models. Hopefully I can send it back soon to give this a 2nd go at finishing it!

[OlDeuce]

Your moving right along on your project !!! Fun Stuff!!! Ol Deuce

[marlinman93]

Your moving right along on your project !!! Fun Stuff!!! Ol Deuce

Actually I'm moving in the wrong direction! Since this sets me back a few days, I'm having tto do some catching up now to get back where I was!

[OlDeuce]

Actually I'm moving in the wrong direction! Since this sets me back a few days, I'm having tto do some catching up now to get back where I was!

Setbacks are for gathering more thoughts ....... For me it's more momentum moving to the end of the project

Ol Deuce

[marlinman93]

Got the new (old) hammer and breechblock spurs reshaped yesterday. An awful lot of extra metal on both spurs to remove and get them down to sporting rifle weight and shape! Also got the top tang reduced in width to fit the inletting on my wood. Now I need to heat and bend the top tang down as the angle is wrong and the end is probably 1/4" higher than the previous receiver was. It's so far off I could never begin to draw it down with the tang screw. It fits well at the receiver end, so heating it there should allow me to gently bring the tail end down enough to align with the stock.
Taking the extractor and breechblock to my welder to get both welded up. Extractor needs some weld added to rework to the .40-65 rim. Breechblock face needs the firing pin hole welded and re-drilled to the smaller modern smokeless firing pin diameter.
Hopefully I can get it all done soon and return it for the case color and bluing.

[Green Frog]

Vall, you can think of that cracked receiver as an opportunity! Now you have something to practice your engraving on without worrying about messing up a “good” receiver. Try different layouts on opposite sides then if you don’t like what you did there’s enough steel to polish down and engrave a different pattern at least once or twice. Think of it as a win!

You Phriendly ‘Phibian

[marlinman93]

Vall, you can think of that cracked receiver as an opportunity! Now you have something to practice your engraving on without worrying about messing up a “good” receiver. Try different layouts on opposite sides then if you don’t like what you did there’s enough steel to polish down and engrave a different pattern at least once or twice. Think of it as a win!

You Phriendly ‘Phibian

That's a great idea Charlie! The cracked receiver is a better place for me to practice engraving than a good one! At least it wont be a total loss if I play with it that way! Thanks my friend!

[ulav8r]

One of the instructors at CST made up trap guns on Martini actions. He cut a slot through the bottom of the receiver and drilled and tapped the receiver for a cross bolt. The barrels were cut to be easily hand threaded into the receiver. Tightening the cross bolt would lock the barrel firmly into place, while allowing easy removal for cleaning. You could probably do that with this cracked receiver.

[marlinman93]

One of the instructors at CST made up trap guns on Martini actions. He cut a slot through the bottom of the receiver and drilled and tapped the receiver for a cross bolt. The barrels were cut to be easily hand threaded into the receiver. Tightening the cross bolt would lock the barrel firmly into place, while allowing easy removal for cleaning. You could probably do that with this cracked receiver.

I actually have a Forged Ballard here that someone did this same thing to many decades ago. It's similar to what greener did with large frame takedown Martinis.