doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com I bought a Ballard action.

I ran across an ad a few weeks ago for a Ballard with a Winchester barrel. A Pacific action with DST. Was told the bore was nice and shiny ;-). Got the rifle a few days ago and it was touch and go about keeping it or sending it back. I keep telling myself I only wanted the action but it is an interesting rifle, of sorts.

We have not attracted as many single-shot folks to this sight as I had thought we would so if this is something you guys are not interested in I can skip all this.

Thought it may have some interest for new folks and most here are a bit more advanced.

Be prepared this is ugly!

Michael you proably have more than you think you do. Smile Some of us just like neat guns. smile Whitey

I love single shots!!!!! Ok please keep going with this.

If you bought a project then you have a great one. Its not ugly its halloween and it is only out trick and treating. I think you got a treat.

Michael,
There are a bunch of us that like singles but we seem to be overwhelmed, of late, with those dog-leg rifles.

What's up with the sight on that action? It looks like something made from something else, yet rather serviceable if not very elegant.

Nothing wrong with that action except the beating it took on the top of the receiver ring with those stamps. What's that all about?

Brent

The good and the bad.

Every screw in the rifle needs replaced. The set trigger screw was missing and I replaced that yesterday. The bore is dark and worn for the first third of the bore, the rest looks OK.

The rear sight is a modern receiver sight on a angle aluminum piece, that all has to go.

The rear barrel sight is now gone and filler installed. A combination front I'll leave on for a while.

The barrel was from a Winchester High-Wall with an inch cut off threaded and fitted to the Ballard. The barrel a No. 3 that is 33" long so it must have been 34". The cambering job is very professional with a tight fitting extractor. The extractor is not like a Ballard and I had to take it up to my friend John's and we filed the extractor down so we could take the action apart. I have no idea how they could have gotten it together with that extractor.

The butt stock is just a piece of wood butted to the action and pulled tight with the through bolt. The forend is from a High-wall badly fitted, all wood has to go.

The name stamped on the top of the receiver is J.C. Cox I don't know if it was the owner or the gunsmith. There was a Kansas gunsmith in the 1880's named J.G. Cox. More research before I spread all the parts to the wind.

More later.

Michael,
What are you going to do with it?

I really like my Pacific. The trigger is a bit mushy but if I really wanted to, I could fix that. The best thing about the Pacific is the wiping rod. Will you be refitting with that?

I presume all Pacifics are forged, not cast, but have you checked?

Brent

I too encourage you to pursue this project on this forum. I LOVE old single shots, just returned a Ballard 22RF conversion to the Green Frog and wish I could have kept it for myself. Ballards are IMO perhaps the ultimate Schuetzen action and I've always wanted to build a self-setting 4-lever trigger like Frank de Haas shows in one of his books.

What are your thoughts on tight-breeching? I've done it on walls and did it on Froggie's RF Ballard but am still undecided about the accuracy benefits if any.

Do you or any others here have any experience with tight-breeching a single shot? I've heard that Harry Pope liked to do it this way but am lacking details....
Regards, Joe

What a bunch of spare parts. The sight looks like an australian mount.
DST action, lots of draw filing???

Back a few years ago I started shooting Mr. Niedner's 32-40 Ballard a lot. I was starting to get a bit nervous about doing something wrong and hurting the rifle. I thought about building another like it to experiment with so I had Ron Smith make me a barrel just like on the Niedner.

The Ballard rifle company would not sell me a No.6 action so I kept my eye out for a DST Ballard. Now that I have it I'm having second thoughts about pulling the barrel. I'll shoot it and see what how it goes, weather permitting, it was 20 this morning.

I would like to find out who Mr. Cox was before I do anything. If it shoots good I may just pass it on and look for another action.

Years ago I had two Ballard buttstocks for bench-rest shooting but have not seen them in Twenty years.

Many choices, this barrel could be rebored to .33, I have several moulds for that caliber.

It's a forged action and no ramrod for me. The triggers are great. I fitted a new screw and turned it in until they unset then back it off a half turn.

I had a Peterson Ballard in .25-20 single-shot that I thought I would bend or break the lever every time I opened it it was so tight. John has a .22 Peterson Ballard and it's very tight, they shot good so Peterson must have known how to do it. I've owned a few Pope Ballards over the years and they were tight but nothing like the Petersons.