Looking for BALL & WILLIAMS Ballard bands

[Mike w/ 34th]

It seems like lots of people are working on 3-band Ballards lately.

I'm looking for the FRONT and REAR barrel bands, and the REAR SLING SWIVEL.

If you can help out, I will be most appreciative. Send me an email to romach.nh@gmail.com or a PM with your asking price.

Thanks,

Michael

[Jack C., 69th NY]

Michael,
Finding original bands is going to be difficult. Nick Brevoort of the Gator Den or Phil at S&S have some reproduction bands that work really well with a bit of hand fitting either by reducing the wood or by enlarging the inner surface of the reproduction band itself. If you are working with an original forearm, you might want to remove metal from the inside of the band IF the band is a reproduction. With new wood, it is easier to fit the wood to the band. If you are fortunate to find original bands, the fitting or alterations should be done to the wood and not to the original bands. Just my opinion.

For the swivel, are you looking for the entire assembly (plate and swivel) or just the swivel itself? I believe reproductions are available from both the Gator Den and S&S.

I hope I have helped you with your project. :D

Jack
irish1861@aol.com

[Mike w/ 34th]

Jack,

My problem is my bands are too loose. I've got four original bands. The middle (with the sling swivel) is too tight on the repro wood. The others are too loose. I have two front bands, both of which appear to be Ballard carbine bands, and they're too loose. The rear band I have is way too loose, and I suspect it's from something other than a Ballard.

Thanks for the tip on the repro bands. I may have to go that way if I can't find originals that are in the ballpark.

For the rear swivel, I need the whole thing. I have a Burnside swivel that I could use. Do you know if that's the same thing?

Thanks for the advice!

-Mike

[Jack C., 69th NY]

Mike,
Finding original Ballard parts is next to impossible but you may get lucky?

So you have a repro forearm and the lower and top bands are too loose? I would think that either too much wood was removed from the repro wood while the bands were being fitted OR the bands are not Ballard bands and were too large to start with. All repro wood should be oversize to start with and then it is fitted to the bands. There is always the possibility that different bands were on your Ballard and for whatever reason, they were swapped out by a previous owner?

The center band is too tight but that can be remedied by fitting the repro wood to it.

Reproduction bands are cast and are somewhat smaller that original bands due to shrinkage while casting. Since they are smaller, they MIGHT fit or be made to fit on your repro wood?

As for the swivel assembly, I had some old rusty Sharps bases that I found in an old parts box at a gunshow, larger than Ballard bases, that can be made to fit. Repro Ballard bases are available and they need only minimal fitting.

S&S had reproduction walnut forearms for both the 3 band rifles and for the carbine. If all else fails, you can start over with a new repro forearm and fitting the wood to each band.

A point of caution with Ballard forearms! Before the bands seat properly, you will be reducing the top edge of the forearm almost to a knife sharp edge. Before removing too much wood, study how high the forearm sits on the barrel. Removing wood from the barrel channel will allow the forearm to sit higher, possibly causing a better fit of the bands. Trial & error is a great learning tool.

Again, good luck with your project.

Jack

[Muley Gil]

Have you looked at brass shim stock for the loose ones?

[Mike w/ 34th]

Jack,

My gun was "sporterized" by a previous owner, so I'm undoing what he did. I haven't taken any wood off the outside of the stock, just enough out of the barrel channel to get it to sit flush with the barrel. Haven't even sanded it smooth yet. Sounds like the bands I have are really not right.

Gil, I thought about a shim. I could probably glass bed the forearm, too, but I'm hoping to get it back as close to original as I can.

Thanks for the help!

-Mike

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

Sounds like you may have some smith carbine bands, close but loose. Spend the money and get the steel ones from S & S. These are cast off my friends rifle who sent it to the source. S & S gets them from Oklahoma