38-55 Long vs Short Brass

[toot]

I have a MARLIN, BALLARD drop block rifle in 38 SHORT and 38 LONG, both rim fire and 38/55 center fire. it has a two position firing pin. is it safe to shoot both, the long and short cases in it? I shoot 6 grains of TRAIL BOSS in it. the question I have is the 2.125. cases to long to shoot in it.?

[marlinman93]

I have a MARLIN, BALLARD drop block rifle in 38 SHORT and 38 LONG, both rim fire and 38/55 center fire. it has a two position firing pin. is it safe to shoot both, the long and short cases in it? I shoot 6 grains of TRAIL BOSS in it. the question I have is the 2.125. cases to long to shoot in it.?

Your post confuses me? The .38 Long RF, or CF are not the same cartridge as the .38-55 Ballard cartridge! Sounds like you've got a #2 Ballard in .38 Long RF/CF with reversible firing pin, so that gun can't shoot either length .38-55 cases.
But if by chance someone rechambered your #2 to .38-55 caliber, you've got a sketchy rifle now. The #2 cast frame rifles should never be chambered in .38-55 caliber. Just not a strong enough action to handle that cartridge well.

[toot]

marlinman93, yes that is what I have and it has the reversible firing pin, for rim fire & center fire. where in the heck would I get 38, long rim fire and center fore? fire? I guess if I do shoot low velocity 38/55's in it , six grains of TRAIL BOSS in it I should be all right? they do not swell up after firing and extract fine. no exec essive pressure on the primers, after firing. so I am in a quandary.

[marlinman93]

marlinman93, yes that is what I have and it has the reversible firing pin, for rim fire & center fire. where in the heck would I get 38, long rim fire and center fore? fire? I guess if I do shoot low velocity 38/55's in it , six grains of TRAIL BOSS in it I should be all right? they do not swell up after firing and extract fine. no exec essive pressure on the primers, after firing. so I am in a quandary.

You can't shoot .38 Long if your gun chambers .38-55, ass the two are totally different cartridges!! A .38 Long is very similar to a .38 Special, except it's a heeled bullet. So once someone rechambered it to accept .38-55 it wont every be able to shoot the original .38 Long. I make .38 Long using .38 Special cases, and a .375 heeled bullet seated in the .38 case to be exactly as the original .38 Long was.
I've never used Trail Boss, and not familiar with pressures in it? As I mentioned before, it's a bad combination of the .38-55 Ballard in a cast frame #2 Ballard. Be careful whatever you shoot.

[toot]

marlinman, thank you so much for your great helpful information on my post. why in the heck would have any one have bored it out to 38/55? maybe because 38 long rim fire or 38 long center were no longer available? again I will be shooting only cast lead in it. I thought that the 38 long ctg. was a long ctg. not in the 38spl. case legenth. you are so right that I cannot shoot them in it. so years ago some one ruined a good gun. it also has a nice tang rear sight. when was the time period that my gun was made? and were they a hunting gun or just for target shooting.? sorry for all of the questions but you have stirred an interest in my weapon. ? again tanking you.

[marlinman93]

marlinman, thank you so much for your great helpful information on my post. why in the heck would have any one have bored it out to 38/55? maybe because 38 long rim fire or 38 long center were no longer available? again I will be shooting only cast lead in it. I thought that the 38 long ctg. was a long ctg. not in the 38spl. case legenth. you are so right that I cannot shoot them in it. so years ago some one ruined a good gun. it also has a nice tang rear sight. when was the time period that my gun was made? and were they a hunting gun or just for target shooting.? sorry for all of the questions but you have stirred an interest in my weapon. ? again tanking you.

It's not uncommon to find Ballard rifles in both .38 Long, and .32 Long rechambered to .38-55 or .32-40 cartridges. Those rechambered to .38-55 are less of a concern than the .32 Long chambered to .32-40. The .38 Long bores are usually in the .373"-.375" groove. The reason being the .38 Long bore is closer to .38-55 bullet size, where the .32 Long is a .312" groove and any factory .32-40 ammo can have way oversized bullets creating extreme pressures.
If you let me know which rollstamp is on the left side of your receiver, and the serial number with last two digits x'd out, I can give you a good idea of when it was built. All receivers with JM Marlin address will be 1875 to around 1881. Those with Marlin Firearms Co. will be 1881-1890.
What's interesting with Marlin built Ballard rifles is they were never included in Marlin's records, except for about 15 or 16 that got accidentally added. Another interesting thing is Marlin Ballard serial numbers were restarted when Marlin became incorporated in 1881. So there are JM Marlin guns, and Marlin Firearms guns with the same serial numbers on them! I once owned a #2 in .38 Long, and a #6 in .38-55 that had the same serial number. One a JM Marlin and One a MFACo. rifle. So we always need to know which rollstamp to determine age.
One other note here. I've never seen a JM Marlin Ballard rifle with the caliber stamped on the barrel, but every MFACo. marked Ballard has the caliber stamped on the barrel. I'm sure there may be exceptions, as never can say it's all for sure.

[toot]

marlinman93. it is stamped on the left side of the receiver--MARLIN FIRE ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN CT.USA.PATENTED.FEBRUARY.9.1875.BALLARD'S PATENT.NOV 5. 1861. SERIAL #, 304XX. hope this is what you wanted to know? thanks for the history lesion, I have put it in my save area. and I await your reply on my 38/55. toot.

[toot]

marlinman93, PS. my bore DIA, is .375 DIA. and I shoot .375's in it , and they are pretty darn accurate. toot.

[marlinman93]

marlinman93. it is stamped on the left side of the receiver--MARLIN FIRE ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN CT.USA.PATENTED.FEBRUARY.9.1875.BALLARD'S PATENT.NOV 5. 1861. SERIAL #, 304XX. hope this is what you wanted to know? thanks for the history lesion, I have put it in my save area. and I await your reply on my 38/55. toot.

Yes. The MFACo. rollstamp indicates the 2nd generation built from 1881-1890. The highest serial numbers in that generation are close to 37,000 so I'd guess yours is likely around 1887-1888 era. Can't get much closer than that guess.

[toot]

marlinman93, can't get much closer than that, right in the middle of production. so as I understand it/ the guns were never made in 38/55,? I can't thank you for your help in the information you so garishly supplied to me on my weapon. toot. PS one more question, in the second generation ones what changed from the first generation ones? again thank you.

[marlinman93]

marlinman93, can't get much closer than that, right in the middle of production. so as I understand it/ the guns were never made in 38/55,? I can't thank you for your help in the information you so garishly supplied to me on my weapon. toot. PS one more question, in the second generation ones what changed from the first generation ones? again thank you.

The #2 or any cast action Ballard was never made in .38-55, but there were many forged actions built in .38-55 for sure! In the first generation #2 cast actions Marlin offered a lot more calibers, as I think they thought higher of the actions. So in 1st gen #2 rifles they offered .44-40, .44 Long, .38 Long, .32 Long, and .32-20. Also a few other centerfire very rare calibers we never see. But at the same time the stronger forged receivers had a huge variety up to .45-120 caliber The little #3 cast actions were almost all .22 Long or short, but I've heard they had another offering in .22 WCF, but have never seen one?
The only difference in the 1st series JM Marlin and 2nd series MFACo. Ballard rifles is the rollstamp on the side. There were some minor changes within models like the double set trigger design, and hammer shape that changed over the years, but not necessarily at the same time the rollstamp changed. Buttplates and levers changed too, and on the #2 the change in levers did coincide with the rollstamp change. The early JM Marlin lever looked like this #2 in my collection. They're called the "ring lever" for the closed ring on them:


Then they went to the S shaped lever like this #3 I have: