Old guns and old scopes

[marlinman93]

I've collected old single shot rifles for many decades. Especially Marlin Ballard rifles, but others as well. Many of these old guns came to me either D&T for scope bases, or with old scopes on them. This got me interested in old scopes, that could be mounted on the guns D&T for a scope. I wont D&T an old gun's barrel, as it seems sacrilegious to do so, if it's survived over 100 years. But I'd rather have a correct scope on them, if it came to me D&T for a scope.
Here's a few old gun and scope combinations from my collection.
Marlin Ballard #3 in .22LR, with an early Stevens long tube scope and mounts:


Marlin Ballard #2 .32-20, with a reproduction Tasco long tube. Restored to look period, and mounted in Malcolm style mounts; also aged to fit the look:


Modern Cody Ballard Schoyen model built in 2004. .22LR Badger match barrel. Wearing ann early 30's Unertl scope:



Ballard special order Nimschke engraved. .38-55 caliber schuetzen rifle. Stevens 368 scope in Stevens offset mounts to allow iron sight use and not remove the scope:



Another Ballard #3, but rebored at Stevens to their .25RF cartridge, and fitted with a full length Stevens scope:


Winchester 52 .22LR with custom offhand stocks, (plus original stock) and a 20x Fecker target scope:


Remington Hepburn engraved. .45-70 caliber. Full length scope of unknown maker, mounted in Winchester mounts:


Custom Ballard #6 Schuetzen Zettler Bros. rifle. Fitted with a Zettler re-rifled Win. 1885 .22 Short barrel. Scope is a Stevens mounted in HM Pope scope rings. Only 50-60 pairs of these rings were made by Pope:


Custom George C Schoyen schuetzen rifle. Caliber .38-55 on a false muzzle barrel. Fitted with a Winchester A5 scope and mounts:


Remington #1 Sporting Rifle. Rebarreled to .22LR, and fitted with a Fecker 12x scope:


Stevens Walnut Hill on the 44 1/2 frame. .25-21 Stevens caliber. Lyman scope.


That's most of them for now.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Very nice accumulation friend. I have nothing in that range of quality in an old gun. WOW!

[Pete44ru]

.

Outstanding, Vall - You've done well.....

.

[Merle]

Very impressive!!!

[yooper2]

Wow! I never get tired of stuff like this. That Hepburn and 38-55 Ballard are particularly striking. Wonderful photos!



Eric

[samb]

Beeeeeutiful! Thanks for sharing.

[Dan 444]

Outstanding!

Dan

[Daisyman]

Those are some of the longest scopes I've ever seen. A very nice collection, indeed!!

[plowboy 45]

Nice, indeed

[boolitshooter]

Beautiful riflesthanks for sharing.

[Batman1939]

Beautiful examples of gun- and scope- makers craftsmanship. Those are pure-dee artistry!!! Very nice Marlinman. I enjoyed seeing those photos.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Thank you form posting those photos ! I will look through this post numerous times in the days to come. There are certain details in those rifles that I want to remember.
Mike in Peru

[marlinman93]

Thanks everyone! The first old singleshot I brought home with a very long tube scope created a puzzled response from my wife. She asked why that gun had that long "pipe" on top of it?
Of course I was very excited about the combo, and her comment pretty much stopped me dead in my tracks. Pretty sure my jaw was left open, and I know I was speechless! All I could muster was a head shake, as I walked out of the room. She knows what they are now, but she still doesn't understand why I don't use shorter, modern scopes.

[ollogger]

well sir I am left speechless!!
that is an amazing collection of fine guns!!



ollogger

[stretch]

Very cool collection!

-Stretch

[RIHMFIRE]

That is one of the finest collections I have seen so far here....very cool!

[Bill in Oregon]

I agree with all the comments! I feel like I just had a look in Ned Roberts' gun safe!

[marlinman93]

Thanks again! These are part of my decades of collecting, so I was fortunate to obtain many before the post Quigley single shot craze hit. Not as easy anymore to find them, and a lot more funds needed to purchase them. But I still stumble across them, and occasionally at decent prices. I found a couple last fall at the Reno Grande Sierra gun show last November, and both were by chance rare Rolling Blocks, at very reasonable prices. One a #1 Sporter in a rare .22L chambering, with a great bore! The other a Whitney-Laidley 1st type Sporting Rifle in .45-70, which less than 5,000 were made. I came home extremely pleased to find two unusual guns, that others somehow overlooked there.

[octagon]

Dang!! Marlinman have you read "Flight of the Bullet" by Mann, with Pope's notes in the margins?

[marlinman93]

Dang!! Marlinman have you read "Flight of the Bullet" by Mann, with Pope's notes in the margins?

Yes I have. I love gun related books, and have a small fortune tied up in my gun library. But all well worth it, as having good reference material has saved me from making mistakes for many decades. It was advice from an old gun collector, decades before there was an internet, and the info was only available from knowledgeable collectors, and books. I can never thank him enough for his input, and guidance. I still prefer to use my reference books, vs. the internet, and there's usually a dozen or more sitting on a book shelf close to the computer. Have one wall of our family room in floor to ceiling bookcases, and filled with gun related reading materials.

[6pt-sika]

MM93 since you seem a bit overwhelmed with all those fine singlshots I'd be more then happy to keep that little Stevens 25-21 for you and exercise it regularly

[marlinman93]

MM93 since you seem a bit overwhelmed with all those fine singlshots I'd be more then happy to keep that little Stevens 25-21 for you and exercise it regularly

I'm actually going to sell that Stevens .25-21 soon. Also have another Walnut Hill on the Stevens 44 frame that is factory engraved, and in .22LR that is also going on the for sale block too! Both are in excellent shape, but I have a chance to purchase a factory engraved Ballard schuetzen rifle with an HM Pope barrel, plus another #6 Schuetzen Ballard factory engraved. So need to start moving some I love, but can't keep.

[6pt-sika]

MM93 did any of your Ballards ever belong to the guy that wrote the Ballard book ?

[rbertalotto]

Fantastic!! I too, am a nut about these old scopes on old single shot rifles.

Stevens 44 1/2...219 Zipper and 38-55



1874 Sharps 45-70



Winchester 1885 45-70



And my Ballard 38-55



A article I wrote for Black Powder Cartridge magazine

http://rvbprecision.com/shooting/a-ball ... llard.html

[marlinman93]

MM93 did any of your Ballards ever belong to the guy that wrote the Ballard book ?

Not that I know of? I've never asked John Dutcher in particular if he may have owned any of my Ballards, but none were purchased from him. My stuff is probably a less quality than the stuff John owned or owns.
I do have a unique #2 Ballard that came from John's area last year. It's got mostly special order features of a Union Hill Ballard, but on a cast #2 receiver, in .32 Long CF. I bought it from a doctor, but wondered if he might have gotten it from Dutcher long ago!

[marlinman93]

Fantastic!! I too, am a nut about these old scopes on old single shot rifles.

Stevens 44 1/2...219 Zipper and 38-55



1874 Sharps 45-70



Winchester 1885 45-70



And my Ballard 38-55



A article I wrote for Black Powder Cartridge magazine

http://rvbprecision.com/shooting/a-ball ... llard.html

Are those the Leatherwood scopes Roy?

[rbertalotto]

Three of them are and one is a Unertl

I wrote an article about the Leatherwoods and how I made a set of mounts out of dial indicators

www.rvbprecision.com

I now have a few more Unertls, a Lyman and a Feckler in the collection.

[Griff]

Very nice collection.