Thread: 140 year old Consecutive pair of rifles. What are the chances?

Originally Posted by johnd

I wonder how many came in a crate ex factory

There's a pretty good chance there's a number adjacent to these still in NZ

That they are now together and both fully functional at 140 years old is pretty exciting

The more recently acquired one is mechanically in better condition, but rougher on the exterior.
So will be a very good shooter once I find a vintage tang sight for it

I still need to get a permit to import for a reproduction hard rubber butt plate from USA.
Only $35us but what a butt pain to get one

Pretty cool for sure and must add quite a bit to the potential value. What were people shooting with them 140 years ago ?

Greetings to you all,
It never ceases to amaze me how those of us, of a certain age, can get such a kick of faffing about with old rifles. The subject rifles are chambered for a cartridge on which the sun was setting at the end of the century before last. This fills us with joy as does returning the rifles to their former glory and maybe even taking them for a hunt. Well done @akaroa1 you have been blessed. The word has obviously got out in the nice old rifle fraternity that a nice home can be found in your safe.
Regards Grandpamac.

My gunsmithing mentor Mr Vulcan barrels has just visited expressly to view this wonderful pair of rifles
So I now have made the promise to get the sights on the latest one sorted and have them both ready to be shot together ASAP and for us to share a very special whisky afterward

I have suppressed three consecutive serial numbers tikka t3x in 308 last week , imagine how hard it going to be to re unite them in 140 years from now .
There would be so many thousands of them on the nz market!

Soldered a brass blade into what was left of the original Ballard front sight base



And drifted in a BSA rear sight that fitted the original dovetail



Fired the first two shots at 50m with the rear sight elevator 1/3 up
Pretty happy with that



Took the sight elevator out and fired 3 more shots



Didn't shift the impact much but my guess it's zeroed for 100m maybe now

Have loaded 25 rounds and will shoot them both together some time soon

and where is the forewood??? it might possibly lower impact with barrel harmonics??
taller front =lower rear.....maybe your new blade could be tad low for ideal.....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

and where is the forewood??? it might possibly lower impact with barrel harmonics??
taller front =lower rear.....maybe your new blade could be tad low for ideal.....

@Micky Duck it lost its fore end and sights some time in the last 140 years
I don't think barrel harmonics are a big deal with 7/8th inch parralel octagonal barrels

The sights were just to see if it could fling bullets reasonably close together
Now that I know it can, I will make some decent sights for it that will be more suited to dawn and dusk
A #4 Ballard is a hunting rifle

shock horror,is that an adjustable nut fcuker I spy on your bench?????
thought you would be a full on spanners shadow hung on wall or in foam lined draw sort of a fella......tis ok for mere heathens like myself to use such a lowly instrament but for it to be seen in your presence raises all sorts of questions about the state of the world!!!

Well, FMDrunk

The second Ballard that was minus sights and a fore end now has a new fore end which is a nice match with the original butt stock




A new old globe front sight.
Actually a Winchester sight but often used in the Ballard in the day according to the Ballard Bible



A rear sight dovetail blank made from a broken front sight



A Lyman tang sight with the correct hole spacing and staff angle.
But needs a better staff and aperture.
This staff is for a boys rifle and boys eyes!

Revisiting this old friend to get it hunting ready

Made a pass through sizer to get the bullets to the perfect size for the fired cases and no resizing with BP loads

Tapped and fitted a Parker Hale sight eye cup



Been doing some testing with grease cookies and wads to be able to shoot multiple shots without BP fouling being a problem.
Seem to have it pretty well sorted.

First few shots at 60m were low.
Wound the staff up two turns and fired last 4 shots.



So cleaned my 8 in use cases to reload this evening.
Get another 50 from Gunworks and load some of those and this rifle can go for a wander

Revisiting this old friend to get it hunting ready

Made a pass through sizer to get the bullets to the perfect size for the fired cases and no resizing with BP loads

Tapped and fitted a Parker Hale sight eye cup

Attachment 240424

Been doing some testing with grease cookies and wads to be able to shoot multiple shots without BP fouling being a problem.
Seem to have it pretty well sorted.

First few shots at 60m were low.
Wound the staff up two turns and fired last 4 shots.

Attachment 240425

So cleaned my 8 in use cases to reload this evening.
Get another 50 from Gunworks and load some of those and this rifle can go for a wander

Those photos are like peering through a steamy window at a sexy damsel, just enough detail to excite you.
I'm tempted to start a "get akaroa a decent camera give a little page"