A little range time with the Ballards

marlinman93 · Post by **marlinman93** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:35 pm

Finally found some time between hunting seasons to get the two new Ballards out for a test session.
The #3 Ballard in .22LR and the #6 Schuetzen in .22 short. Shot them both at 50 yds., and results were a nice surprise.
The #3 has iron sights, which are a Globe front, with post, and a Ballard vernier tang sight. I spread them around pretty good, with the group measuring a spread of 1.75" for 15 shots, which I'm happy with from my old eyes.

The #6 has the Stevens 438 scope, and Pope mounts. After finally figuring out that Pope used left hand threads on the windage knob, and right hand on the elevation to make the scope adjust like iron sights would, it shot an extremely tight group of 1/2" for 15 shots!

The #6 is a bit of a pain to unload the empty .22 short cases, as it's got a tight match chamber, and my big old fingers don't want to reach in well to pull them free from the extractor. Had to use a pair of needlenose pliers to pull cases free. The #3 is pretty standard, and easy to load and unload.-Vall

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:31 pm

Vall, reckon that rifle with the weird scope would make a mighty fine skwirl gun. You do alright for an old man.

Jerry

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:59 pm

Very nice, Val. Sure is good to see those old classics still doing excellent.

spaceman spiff · Post by **spaceman spiff** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:55 pm

Hi Val,

I'm a newbie so I don't know if you have posted pics of the rifles before, but could you now? I'd appreciate it. BTW, nice shooting. Small groups are a beautiful thing. If extracting spent shells are too much for you I know someone with little fingers.

Regards,

Troy

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:03 pm

Great range report Val!

Glad to see these working out for you!!!

Spiff - I think this is one of those beauties!

http://sixshootercommunity.com/levergun ... highlight=

jdad · Post by **jdad** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:04 pm

Vall,
Were you using Target Shorts or just what you had on hand? Those are real good groups!

Any idea what the set trigger poundage (ounces) is?

spaceman spiff · Post by **spaceman spiff** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:11 pm

Thanks, Ysabel.....

That's a very cool rifle...

marlinman93 · Post by **marlinman93** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 2:10 pm

spaceman spiff wrote:Hi Val,

I'm a newbie so I don't know if you have posted pics of the rifles before, but could you now? I'd appreciate it. BTW, nice shooting. Small groups are a beautiful thing. If extracting spent shells are too much for you I know someone with little fingers.

Regards,

Troy

The #3 in .22LR:

The #6 Stevens scoped #6:

jdad,
I only had some misc. .22 shorts aroun, so this group was with a box of Remingtons marked, "CBee22 22 Low Velocity" They were copper coated bullets. Nothing special, but they sure shot well, and no report at all in the long barrel.-Vall

DavidS · Post by **DavidS** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:52 pm

Nice shooting Val. I should bring my Ballard to the range this weekend.

handirifle · Post by **handirifle** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:39 am

can you post a close up of the FRONT scope mount please? I'm working on a project rifle.