My latest Ballard project

[marlinman93]

I've owned this little Ballard #3F Fine Gallery for about 35 years now. I bought it back when because these are so rare, and it looked pretty nice; but it had a horrid bore! I tried all sorts of things to clean and improve the rifling, but it just had too many BP .22 rounds through it without proper maintenance to save.



I set the gun in the safe with intentions of someday having it relined, but after a lot of contemplation I knew I wouldn't ever be happy with the tiny, lightweight, short 24" barrel. So I always set it aside to think it over. Then in September I got an email from Green Mountain saying they had all their barrels on sale. I had checked at their sale the month before, but no .22 barrels in stock. Took a look in September and surprised to see they now had the .22 barrel I wanted listed in stock! With the sale discount a 27" full round, heavy 1.20" barrel was well under $100! So I ordered one!
It arrived fairly quick, and I began disassembling the #3F to ready it for a compete rework. The old barrel and forearm will be set aside to keep with the gun, and the new barrel fitted and I'll build a new forearm to fit. I sent the polished action to Al Springer, who will have C. Sharps fit the new barrel, and then Al will rust blue it, and color case the receiver also.
Once it's done and back here I'll spin the new barrel on and put the buttstock on it. Then carve a larger forearm to fit the heavy round barrel, and use it for .22RF matches at our club. It's going to be set up for iron sights, or target scope bases also, so I can shoot it either way.
Post some more pictures when it returns.

[HWooldridge]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Funny you mention BP .22's - apparently, they lasted much longer than people might think. One of my great uncles was born in 1897, so he saw the transition from BP to smokeless - and he was also a lifelong target shooter, both rimfire and centerfire. He said .22 BP rimfire rounds were still on shelves until about the end of WW2 (at least here in Texas), but I have never seen factory .22 BP in my lifetime and I was hatched in 1959. Uncle Willie also didn't like BP; said the cleaning chore took too much time. Now, a lot of us shoot BP for fun...there is truly nothing new under the sun.

[marlinman93]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Funny you mention BP .22's - apparently, they lasted much longer than people might think. One of my great uncles was born in 1897, so he saw the transition from BP to smokeless - and he was also a lifelong target shooter, both rimfire and centerfire. He said .22 BP rimfire rounds were still on shelves until about the end of WW2 (at least here in Texas), but I have never seen factory .22 BP in my lifetime and I was hatched in 1959. Uncle Willie also didn't like BP; said the cleaning chore took too much time. Now, a lot of us shoot BP for fun...there is truly nothing new under the sun.

I think a lot of those factory .22RF BP loads weren't marked as BP or corrosive. So it's possible a lot of people thought what they were shooting was smokeless and non corrosive long after BP was gone.
I have a fairly large collection of .22RF ammo and some is old lift top boxes of UMC that I'm certain is BP, but not going to shoot any since they are full boxes.

[Rockindaddy]

Boy! Marlinman: that is a really nice looking ole Ballard! I am still having fun shooting my old 33-40 MB Union Hill. The old brass 6X scope just fit right on as the rifle already had dovetail target blocks on it. Want to band a woodchuck or two. Figure if I can find one under 200 yards the ole Marlin Ballard will give em a dirt nap.

[marlinman93]

Boy! Marlinman: that is a really nice looking ole Ballard! I am still having fun shooting my old 33-40 MB Union Hill. The old brass 6X scope just fit right on as the rifle already had dovetail target blocks on it. Want to band a woodchuck or two. Figure if I can find one under 200 yards the ole Marlin Ballard will give em a dirt nap.

They certainly will do the job when they have a good bore and the right load.

The #3F had already had the stocks nicely restored, and whoever did them was careful to not sand them low. I was going to go to my local Woodcrafters tomorrow to find a piece of walnut for the new forearm, but something in my poor memory told me to check my box of stocks for Ballard rifles. There in a box was a 90% inletted forearm still in the shipping box! It's inletted for an octagon barrel, but I think there's plenty of wood to reshape the barrel channel to a heavy round channel. This will save me a lot of time and work!

[Rockindaddy]

Too bad Numrich had 22 cal liners for a very reasonable price but don't see them offered anymore. Would have been easy to line the original barrel.

[gnoahhh]

I would've lined the barrel in a New York Minute, but I applaud your approach too Vall. I bet it'll be a humdinger when it's finished.

A #3F Fine Gallery would thrill me no end. My #3 Gallery zoomed to the top 5% of my favorites the minute I got it!

[marlinman93]

I may still reline the original barrel just to have it in shootable condition as a spare. But I've got 4 other plain #3 rifles, so it's really low on the priority list. I think the heavy 27" round barrel will be more accurate than thhe original relined could ever be.
I planned to head to Woodcrafters today to pickup a chunk of walnut for the forearm, but something told me to check my box of old Ballard stocks first. I opened the box and the first thing I saw was a 12" long carboard shipping box. Opened it up to see a brand new semi inletted forearm for a Ballard rifle! The barrel channel is for an octagon, and it's 90% inletted, but I think there's enough wood left to open it up for the round barrel and fit it with little work. It's a larger forearm for a CF Ballard rifle, so will look more appropriate on the larger barrel. wood has a little more figure than the original buttstock, but not so much as to look odd together.

[Shawlerbrook]

Vall, just love following your projects.

[marlinman93]

Vall, just love following your projects.

Thanks!

[Bigslug]

Haven't dinked around with Dad's #2 .38LC reline in a while, but yeah. . .it made the idea of one in .22 very appealing.

Keep the pics coming - yummy!

[marlinman93]

Haven't dinked around with Dad's #2 .38LC reline in a while, but yeah. . .it made the idea of one in .22 very appealing.

Keep the pics coming - yummy!

Hope it wont be too long before I can post more pics! It really depends on how long the barrel fitting takes as the #3's unique 2 piece extractor system can be tricky to do. Once the barrel is fitted I know Al will be fast with color case, and bluing he does.

[xtriggerman]

mm93, you must have some of the nicest SS guns on the site. Some day I hope to stumble on a steel Ballard to play with. I will say one thing about a 22 liner, I'v done a few Redman LR liners over the years and I dont think there is a run a the mill factory barrel that can out shoot a Redman 22 liner. I just put in an old Numrich barrel liner in a Crack shot 2 days ago and its been so long, I forgot they are larger in OD than the Redman. Those Numrich 22 barrel liners are not even close to the quality bore of the Redmans. The Playford brothers banged them out on the old Springfield Armory rifling lathes that George Numrich bought when Springfield upgraded their machines back in the 50's. After the millions of yards of barrel stock that went threw those machines, Match grade is not what one could expect from a Numrich barrel. And yeah, keep the pics coming, that #3 looks like a real jem!

[Green Frog]

I haven’t bought a barrel from Numrich for about 30 years, and of the ones I got, quality was all over the place. I did get an octagon profiled 45-70 barrel (1” atf, no taper) that I had a country gunsmith mount on a takedown lug for my old TD high wall. I’ve never seriously benched it, but it shoots moderately well OH, which is better than I do!
As Archie and Edith used to sing, “those were the days!”
Froggie

[marlinman93]

mm93, you must have some of the nicest SS guns on the site. Some day I hope to stumble on a steel Ballard to play with. I will say one thing about a 22 liner, I'v done a few Redman LR liners over the years and I dont think there is a run a the mill factory barrel that can out shoot a Redman 22 liner. I just put in an old Numrich barrel liner in a Crack shot 2 days ago and its been so long, I forgot they are larger in OD than the Redman. Those Numrich 22 barrel liners are not even close to the quality bore of the Redmans. The Playford brothers banged them out on the old Springfield Armory rifling lathes that George Numrich bought when Springfield upgraded their machines back in the 50's. After the millions of yards of barrel stock that went threw those machines, Match grade is not what one could expect from a Numrich barrel. And yeah, keep the pics coming, that #3 looks like a real jem!

Thanks! Randy Redman is a friend, and I've been to his shop in Omak to visit and see his setup, plus some of his rifle collection. He does make great liners, and I remember when he and his dad bought the liner business and were in Oregon, and later moved it all to Washington.
I'm not much of a fan of anything Numrich sells unless it's NOS parts, or used parts. Anything they make or have made for them is pretty low quality in my buying experience.

It's going to be awhile until I add any updates now, as it's all in other's hands to do the barrel fitting, and color case and rust bluing. Hopefully the GM barrel will shoot as good as numerous other GM barrels I've bought. It's the first .22RF barrel I've bought from GM, but heard great things about these.

[marlinman93]

I haven’t bought a barrel from Numrich for about 30 years, and of the ones I got, quality was all over the place. I did get an octagon profiled 45-70 barrel (1” atf, no taper) that I had a country gunsmith mount on a takedown lug for my old TD high wall. I’ve never seriously benched it, but it shoots moderately well OH, which is better than I do!
As Archie and Edith used to sing, “those were the days!”
Froggie

One of the first barrels I ever bought to put on a Rolling Block receiver was a Numrich full octagon .45-70 barrel. The price was very attractive, but they obviously had no quality control, and no quality barrel maker either.
I got the barrel and opened the shipping tube to see the bore was about 1/8" off center to the outside! Other end was centered fine. I couldn't believe they'd send such a piece of junk. Back then no internet, so I had to call them, and was told to send it back and they'd send my money back, or give me store credit. I asked if they were also going to send back what it cost for me to ship it back, and the person acted insulted, like they didn't want to lose money! They finally agreed, but when I got my check it was minus shipping. Took a couple more calls for them to finally pay up.

[xtriggerman]

"no quality barrel maker"..... You could have put that in capitols! The man in question was Billy Playford. Back in the 80's when I worked across the street from Numrich Arms at Geoge Numrich's sister company Auto Ordnance, I knew Billy well by the fact he was Numrich's blueing guy and general hump up arist to all things Numrich sold. I give him credit for a self taught guy tho. I had to deal with him to get all our Thompson 1911 guns blued and roll stamped since I was running that line at the time. He & I got along fine untill I got the nod to build 6 1928 select fire tomys for a CA prop movie Co that needed more guns for the movie Scarface. Billy was not happy about it since he gave George Numrich a bonus cost price and thought no one else could do it. Then I got the job and he wasn't happy about it. After that, he tried to get me in trouble by stalling my lead times on roll stamping and blueing. Yup, he ended up being a real d**k. He cost Numrich alot of trouble by dumping dead blueing salts in the woods behind the shipping warehouse that polluted all the home water wells on Williams Lane. Thats why Numrich changed the Co name to "The Gun Parts store" back in the 90's to get out from under the home owners combined law suits. But in fairness that could have been Georges orders since he was the tightest guy I ever knew. His and Ira Trast's frugality destroyed the 1911's rep with horrible aftermarket triggers and way, way out of spec barrel castings after we ran out of GI & Colt parts for the builds, circa 1983. George had a business model that was strictly adhered to. Dont sweat the details on the parts because human nature says "most" people wont take the time to send things back. That model worked very well for his bank account, unfortunately not for the general public.

[marlinman93]

I visited Numrich back in the early 1990's while we were visiting my wife's family in NY State. I asked about possibility of getting a tour and they had a person walk me around the warehouse. I was a bit surprised at some of the disorganization I saw there. There were large barrels of unsorted gun parts that appeared to have been there for decades! I know one barrel of NOS Marlin parts had been there since Marlin moved their plant around 1969, and Numrich bought all the old Marlin parts for scrap steel prices!
The barrel of Marlin parts had huge numbers of pre WWI Marlin lever action parts in it, and many were parts guys were trying to find with zero luck! I asked why they hadn't sorted and cataloged the parts after all those years, and the answer was "we don't have anyone who knows what the parts are, or what models they fit? And no idea what to ask for them either."
I grabbed a handful of parts and pointed out hammers, triggers, carriers, and the very elusive takedown mechanisms for Marlin 1893 and 1894 rifles! In a day I could have gone through with an employee and told them what everything fit, but they didn't seem interested. I even offered to do so, and take payment in selecting parts as trade for my time, but nobody could decide if that was doable.
I bet those barrels are still there, and still unsorted.

[xtriggerman]

Yeah, I beleave every word. I asked the same question about the Take down room. If you stand with your back to the show room and in front of the lathes, off to the right there was the take down room. It had an island of stack bins in the middle over flowing with guns of every description and rifles as well stacked up along the walls. I knew a guy that worked there (forget his name) who was a waking talking encyclopedia of gun parts that were ever made. You could show him any old or new gun part and he could recite to what it belonged. A parts nerd isnt even close to this guys abilities. I think he wanted to be buried out behind the warehouse. He worked in shipping and told me that the only time he was allowed to go in take down was when no parts orders were coming in. To say they didnt have any one to know those parts is bull. I could give more examples of how cheap George was but I think you all get the point. He had one Daughter and she worked in shipping to keep an eye on things. ALOT of workers built lunch box collections out of there since inventory was all over the place and not sorted to the drawer bins. Dam shame. Once the old man died (Had HUGE pin ball machine collection), the Co was sold up in shares with Daughter in controlling share. No idea who runs it these days.

[Shawlerbrook]

Sad. You can no longer visit the Kingston, NY facility to buy stuff. I was there about 15-20 years ago and the place looked disorganized. Now they only sell online.