Guns International #: 102855092
Seller's Inventory #: JM1544

Category - Ballard Rifles - Antique Rifles - Single Shot

Category
Ballard Rifles
Antique Rifles - Single Shot

MERRIMACK ARMS & MFG CO. BALLARD SPORTING RIFLE IN CALIBER 46 RF WITH RARE *DUAL IGNITION

Description:
26 inch octagon barrel retains a good deal of finish starting to turn brown with handling marks and a freckle scattered here and there. Bore is fairly bright with substantial rifling showing scattered light to moderate pitting. German silver blade front and tip-up rear sights. Under barrel manual ejector. Case hardened cast iron frame now appears a mottled silvery-gray brown. Matching numbers on barrel & frame. Walnut stocks show an old worn coat of finish added with cracks, various rough handling marks and a splinter missing off the top left front edge of the forearm. Crescent shaped steel butt plate. 

*About Dual Ignition Ballard Rifles. The breechblocks of some Ballard rim fire rifles were made with both firing pins and nipples for percussion caps. Typically the RimFire cartridge design was limited to the single one time use of shell casings as there was no way to replace the internal rim fire primer. This limited guns using rim fire cartridges to the available factory loaded ammunition on hand. The dual ignition design allowed shooters to reuse what had previously been single use spent rim fire shell casings by reloading them. This reloading was done with a set of tools; A Punch used to put a hole through the center of the base of the shell casing. A Scoop used to measure the powder charge placed in the shell casing. And a Die Set used to seat a new bullet into the shell casing. These reloaded cartridges were then able to be fired by means of using an external percussion cap as the primer to ignite the powder. When using new unfired rim fire cartridges, the firing pin would strike the rim of the cartridge igniting the internal primer and powder charge. When using reloaded cartridges, the shooter would also have to place an external percussion cap on the nipple when using a reloaded cartridges. Then when fired, the  hammer would then strike the external percussion cap igniting powder charge through the hole in the base of the cartridge.

Leroy Merz Antique Firearms specializes in antique and vintage Winchesters and other fine American firearms. Since 1965 Mr. Merz has taken part in the world of firearms and has been a contributor to many well known reference books. We have hundreds of additional guns in every price range at our home online. Search for Merz Antiques in google.
 

Price: $1,975.00

Antique: Yes