Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Precision rimfire shoot

Pug
Thanks. Its a Ballard with an AW Peterson barrel and a Lyman Supertarget Spot 25X scope. Used CCI SV, maybe I should have used some TenX. Oh well. It amazes me how well these old barrels shoot compared with new production especially when you consider the machinery they had to work with back in the day.
Phil

Really nice Ballard!

That's a beauty, and a shooter.

I couldn't do it... even after changing out sights a while back, I couldn't consistently pick out the spots. 1" yes, 1/2" no. So I guess I know the limits of my eyesight now.

Boy that's great wood - most of them I see don't have much figure at all. Very pretty. I intend to get back to these precision shoots when there's a nice day

Its a really fun thing to do when you can. We should do a centerfire version maybe with fewer shots so our barrels don't melt.
Phil

Yep! Would be fun. Iron sighted and scoped

Yes, and the guys with all those rifles that will shoot 1/4" all day long will do very well

A minute or more between shots with a plain based lead bullet, breech seating, with 14 grains 4227, won't melt my barrel!

Gotta wonder which model Ballard that started life as. Union Hill, Mid-Range, were two that come to mind with pistol grip receivers and closed loop levers. I must say Ballards are awfully neat rifles, perhaps my favorites.

My Ballard .22. Forged receiver, Stevens-Pope .22 barrel (rifled as such but not marked as such), placed 3rd in an ASSRA match with it last year. No idea which model it started out as - I've shown it to a couple top-tier Ballard guys, Val Miller and Tom Rowe, who are stumped by it. Best guess it was a tool room job.



Faceted receiver ring says Rigby Ballard but it's a straight grip receiver and not engraved. Grooved top of receiver says Ballard #3 but all #3's were cast receivers, this one's forged. Mystery mutt, but it's mine and I like it.

Question in regards to my ignorance on antique scopes... what is the spring behind the front ring for?

It returns the scope to battery after each shot. Scopes like that slide back and forth in those mounts due to recoil, without the spring they have to be manually returned into battery after each shot. A lot of scopes (Unertl, Fecker, Lyman, etc.) used on centerfires purposely don't have the spring because the slam-bang action can wreck the really really fine crosshairs- not a big deal on light recoiling rifles. For example, the 8x Unertl's used on the WWII USMC M1903 Springfield sniper rifles had the springs left off on purpose for that reason. Some say it's a benefit, some say it's hogwash. Boils down to personal opinion, as always. I keep the springs on for some of the .22's, none on any of my centerfire target guns.

Sweet shooting and looking old rifle TenX. Thanks for sharing with us. That wood is awesome!! Cool you are using an old long tube scope like that too. I almost bought one for my 52B, but decided to keep the irons.

Very cool rifle gnoahhh. I'm glad I started this thread. There are some very fine rifles here and you guys shoot them very well...

gnoahhh
Very nice rifle, it is indeed a mystery with features from different models. Looks like a nice Fecker as well. Do you use your spring? I've read differing opinions both pro and con on their use.
Phil

Thanks, Phil. Yes, I use the spring on .22's and very light recoiling CF's. And yes, I'm not 100% reliable in remembering to manually return a scope to battery when going springless (and it'll show in the group).

I had to replace the crosshairs in a Fecker once because they broke. Can't swear if because of recoil and the spring, but they broke. Not a fun job, wrangling .0005" (half thou) tungsten wire was an exercise in frustration not to be repeated if I can help it!

What is the purpose of the scope moving, protection of the hairs?

CCI SV can at times perform quite well, as you have demonstrated. But, it’s their all too frequent strays which drive one to distraction.