Shiloh Rifle Forums

I am shooting a Ballard Pacific with a 28" barrel using a dual diameter pp bullet weighting 330 grains. My load is 82 grains of Swiss 1.5 with two 0.060 hdpe wads. What is the approximate velocity of this combo? Thanks. Tom

I would say about 1425-1450fps
based on similar loads in my 40-72/ 370 grain bullet.
beltfed/arnie

MOre exactly:
40-72 Shiloh/16 twist/30 inch barrel
371 grain Elliptical MInigroove bullet 9+1 ww/lino

80 grains Swiss 1.5 Velocity: 1436fps over my Oehler 33 Chrono

79 grains gave 1423fps

beltfed/arnie

Thanks Arnie

is this a .403 bore like the 40-63/40-70 Ballard?

I can tell you that my 40-72 is 0.408 groove diameter
beltfed/arnie

I believe it is a .403 barrel with a 1:20 twist. Haven't shot it in a year so don't remember all of the details but it is a fairly accurate old original Ballard. Tom

Tom,
COW suggests that the 40-85 ballard did indeed have a 403 BORE and a 408-410 Groove. So, a patch to 403 bore , fitting the PP
chamber with a 0.403 patched bullet that has to bump up . Common back in the day and even now.
beltfed/arnie

craigos wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 6:16 pm is this a .403 bore like the 40-63/40-70 Ballard?

I own 6 original Ballard rifles in .40-63, and one in .40-85 on a Pacific. All with excellent bores, and none are as small as .403". All of them have groove diameters between .409"-.411" when slugged.
And Marlin built all their .40 calibers as a 1:20" twist rate. Same for their .38-55 barrels.