Ballard #3F Fine Gallery Model

[marlinman93]

Had this little 3F for about 30 years and always planned to restore it. It had no finish left, and a bad bore, but nice special order buttstock with checkering and cheekpiece. I sent the barreled action to Al Springer in Moore, Mt. for color case and rust bluing, and Al did his usual great work! I built a new forearm to replace the miniature forearms the #3 have. Pretty much completed now. After some cure time on the forearm finish I'll rub it out and then polish with paste wax for the final step.



Put an old Lyman scope on it, but for testing I'll put a spare 20x Super Targetspot on it.

[Road King]

Very nice Val. Really looks like a keeper now.

[marlinman93]

Very nice Val. Really looks like a keeper now.

Thanks. It was a decent looking Ballard before, but just no finish, and I have never been a fan of the very light 24" barrels Marlin used on most #3 and #3F rifles. I own a newer Cody built Ballard with a heavy 30" full round barrel, and love it, so decided to build this one with a little shorter 27" barrel. Hoping it shoots close to what the Cody Schoyen model does, but it's a Badger .22 barrel, not a Green Mountain like this one.
Old picture of my Cody Schoyen:

[Road King]

They are both beautiful rifles. Must be a lot of fun at the range.

[marlinman93]

They are both beautiful rifles. Must be a lot of fun at the range.

The Cody Schoyen is the most accurate .22LR rifle I've ever owned. It's capable of shooting under 1"moa at 100 yds. off my Caldwell Rock if I do my part. I'm not expecting this 3F to be it's equal, just hoping it's close.

[marlinman93]

Got a break in our nasty rainy weather and hit the range. Set up the target at 25 yds. and took my old Remington 37 bolt action along as a comparison to see how the 3F did. I shot 5 shots at 25 yds. and had a nice little .3" group. Should have stopped, or moved to another target, but kept shooting the same hole for 20 shots until I pulled one flyer. Group size with the flyer was .465" for 20 shots, and it held right with my super accurate Remington 37!

[Road King]

Wow. Very impressive.

[marlinman93]

Wow. Very impressive.

Thanks! I was really happy with the way it shoots. Probably got a little cocky with the small group and should have stopped when it was maybe 10 shots at around .3" size.