Shooting a Ballard .44 long rimfire rifle

I demonstrate firing an early 1860s period Ballard sporting rifle using my shop made reloadable .44 long rimfire cartridges.

[@jameslewis9393]

My 2nd great-grandfather served in the 45th Kentucky Mounted Infantry (Union) and was armed with the Ballard carbine during Morgan's second Kentucky raid and also at the 1st Battle of Saltville, VA. I retraced his wartime steps and with the assistance of local historians and artifact collectors was able to recover some original .44 cal. cartridge casings from the latter battlefield. Kudos to you for finding/restoring/preserving/demonstrating this historic Civil War weapon. Much appreciated!

[@steveblancard5566]

Thank you sir, glad you enjoyed the video. The old Ballard is a lot of fun to shoot.

[@olskool3967]

great video! no obnoxious music!

[@eddiexoc8430]

Very cool. I really enjoyed both videos on making the rimfire cartridges as well.

[@Sharps-pg3jm]

Very nice rifle and shooting. Thanks for sharing.

[@Dimwit_the_last_mountainman]

Good job, Steve! Very nice rifle. Gotta love these early cartridge guns!

[@sonnygunz9207]

One of the coolest things I’ve seen!

[@HanstheTraffer]

Great video. Fun to watch.

[@bigjim453]

Nice work

[@corytebay3742]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@normsutton1485]

good shooting

[@griff6985]

Nice job! Thanks!

[@dr.durellshepard398]

Hello Steve, Thanks for sharing the video. Great gun ! ...........Doc

[@steveblancard5566]

Thanks Doc. I was very pleased with it for its first outing. I need to make a few more cases :-)

[@steelgila]

What a dream of a fun ss rifle you have there! Never seen a Ballard to date. Perfect little gun what fun you could have on an all day Sat. at the range with that one! I was looking around for info on the Winchester 44 Long RF when I discovered your vid. I was going to comment on the 'family resemblance' to the Winchester falling block of 1885. Still a popular design and Pedersoli probably still makes that one .

[@steveblancard5566]

Thank.Yes it is a lot of fun. Very sweet for a 155 year old rifle.

[@neilplace7916]

Once one of these rifles are cleaned, they tend to not be accurate again until the lube reaches the muzzle again, as evidenced by the 'lube star" at the muzzle- the pattern the lube makes on the muzzle when the bullet exits. I wonder if this can be reduced in the amount of shots needed to attain this by swabbing the bore with the same lube that is used on the bullets. With a different caliber your experience may be different, so none of this may pertain to your experiences. Lovely rifle, congrats.

[@mihaceban4668]

Very good.Спасибо дедушка.

[@RojasCarpentry]

Awesome video! I found half of an old rusty Ballard made by RBall&Co. Serial number 3998 I think so right after the Civil War I believe. I found it in a home depot bucket filled with water and mixed in with plumbing tools at a garage sale for $40. Missing the stock and the the extractor is frozen but the action still works perfectly. Once restored I have to make some brass!! If you would like to sell any please let me know. Would love to order a small batch.

[@steveblancard5566]

Congrats on your find. I don't have any brass to sell. But look on my youtube playlist for a 2-part video on how to convert centerfire cases to rimfire. Good luck!

[@RojasCarpentry]

@@steveblancard5566 Thank you Steve! I too have the facilities and am up for the challenge

[@collinbarry7139]

Hey I am restoring several Stevens Single Shots!! It is kind of hard due to the fact there aren’t any parts! I have hand made several extractors and also springs! I am in my mid 50’s and really enjoying making these rifles talk again!! I really wish I could hold the rifle in my hands and see what happened all the way through it’s lifetime!! Might just scare me!!

[@steveblancard5566]

Good in ya - keep up the good work!

[@wheelervette]

Excellent video I also watched your video on how you made your ammunition. Do you know of any companies making pre made brass in .44 calibre. I have found someone here in Canada that sells .32 38 and .41 brass made to accept. 22 primers but not .44 keep up the good work! My wife even found it fascinating.

[@steveblancard5566]

You might check with Rocky Mountain Cartridge. They make cases from a chamber cast. These early 44s varied a lot. So you need to make cases to fit your rifle. That's why I make my own. Good luck.

[@garretgauthier685]

Excellent videos! ive watched the ones about converting the centre fires for use in your Ballard, great work! I have a question for you if you have time to answer id really appreciate it... I have just bought a Ball and Williams Ballard rifle. It is stamped Kentucky. It looks identical to yours in this video. I cannot find any stamp to say the caliber. Would it likelly be chambered in .44 long rim-fire? Or without doin a chamber cast is it too hard to tell? It is serial # 8095. Any info would be appreciated.

[@steveblancard5566]

Ball & Williams stamped "Kentucky" on commercial rifles as well as those sold to the state of Kentucky. It could be .44, .46 or .54 caliber. Slugging the bore would be a good start to determine groove and bore diameter. A chamber cast is a good idea too. But its a simple straight chamber, so it can be measured other ways too. If you are on facebook, check out my group for obsolete rimfire and heel bullet cartridges and rifles. A lot of information there. facebook.com/groups/1056562161516537/?ref=share

[@garretgauthier685]

@@steveblancard5566 thank you very much good info and i will join the group. Cheers

[@mikefedorko7387]

just found your site. nice work. i'm preparing to shoot a 66 winchester, but can't see how you could use 44 mag or 44wcf for ammo as neither will enter my chamber. how did you size them? and as for the heeled bullet? what have you done to make the bullet? it's much larger than conventional .429 size bullets. please advise

[@steveblancard5566]

You cannot and should not attempt to shoot that ammunition in a m1866 Winchester. Most M1866s are chanbered for the 44 Henry rimfire. I suggest you go to this site that focuses on Henrys and M1866s. Post photos of it and ask for their advice on how to proceed. www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?board=80.0

[@dirkkeuleers9522]

hey Steve , what is the lube mixture that you use on heeled bullets ? btw love your vids . i am at the moment reloading for my ballard sporting rifle 32long . grt Dirk

[@steveblancard5566]

1890s Heel bullet lube 1 pt paraffin wax 1 pt sheep tallow 1/2 pt beeswax

[@dirkkeuleers9522]

@@steveblancard5566 thanks Steve keep up the good work your doing 👍

[@andrewb1370]

I have that exact rifle w/a third sight ... looks like its in great shape...I would love to fire it...recommendations for where to buy the ammo?

[@steveblancard5566]

You'll probably have to make it. I used shortened .44-40 brass, then converted the brass to rimfire. See my 2 part video showing how I do it. Alternately, Rocky Mountain Cartridge may be able to make you some from a chamber cast.

[@mannequinfukr]

I have a ballard in a very unknown (at least to me) caliber It's rim matches the diameter of the 32-40 or 30-30, has a shoulder with a 30 caliber bore but is roughly the length of a 32-20. Do I have some gunsmith special rifle or was it some unpopular chambering?

[@steveblancard5566]

Ballards were made by 4 different companies over many years and in many chamberings. I'm not sure what yours is. I recommend going over to the ASSRA forum. Post photos of your rifle and ask the question there. There are many very knowledgable Ballard guys there. forum.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

[@mannequinfukr]

@@steveblancard5566thanks but I just got news from my local shop from someone they contacted that mine is a gunsmith special judging by how its supposedly gonna cost $300 for 10 rounds I can only use twice

[@123pap]

I have one of these I need a lever and butt stock if you hear of anything even a pattern

[@steveblancard5566]

Check out the ASSRA online forum. Its all about old single shots.

[@markcarey06]

I have an early serial number Ballard in the 700s and I have been trying to verify what caliber it is since Ive read conflicting info. Any idea how I can figure it out?

[@steveblancard5566]

Slug the bore to determine bore and groove diameter. Make a chamber cast to determine the shell dimensions.

[@mikefedorko7387]

what diameter bullets are you using? are you casting specific sizes w/ custom mold?

[@steveblancard5566]

They are .435" diameter heel bullets I bought from Bernie at Old West Bullet Moulds. The are actually for the .44 S&W American cartridge. I use the same bullet in my .44 rimfire Remington rolling block. See that in another video on my channel.

[@mikefedorko7387]

@@steveblancard5566 thanks so much for that jnfo. i'm trying to gage bore diameter on a 5 groove rifle. not easy so far

[@steveblancard5566]

Yes, that is tricky. I rotate the bullet slug while holding it in the mic. Close the mic .001" at a time until it will not rotate freely without catching. It takes a little practice, but works pretty well for me.

[@user-zk7ni2sq6n]

What projectile are you using?

[@steveblancard5566]

A .44 S&W American heel bullet.

[@vidostuff]

Where are you getting 44 heel base bullets?

[@steveblancard5566]

Here: oldwestbulletmoulds.com/

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

Powder? 2F? 3F? Synthetic?

[@steveblancard5566]

2F black powder