Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle

About the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle

The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle is a single-shot, breech-loading falling-block rifle built on Charles Henry Ballard's 1861 patent and produced by Marlin Firearms of New Haven, Connecticut from about 1879 to 1883. A lighter, more affordable hunting model in the Marlin-Ballard single-shot line, it used a simple falling-block action of only a handful of moving parts worked by a Winchester-style finger lever that dropped the block, ejected the spent case and brought the hammer to half-cock as the lever was closed. Typically fitted with a 30-inch round barrel and chambered for the .45-70 Government, it weighed about ten pounds and was distinguished by Ballard's deeply cut lands and grooves, the so-called Ballard rifling, prized for its accuracy. Factory examples carried a Rocky Mountain rear sight and a rifle buttplate.

The plainer, lighter brother of the heavy Ballard target and buffalo rifles, the No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle put the famously accurate Ballard rifling into an honest working hunter's gun — a falling-block single-shot meant for the field rather than the firing line.

Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle specifications

The No. 1½ Hunter's Model was offered chiefly in .45-70 Government but also in .40-63 and .40-65 Ballard, with both 30-inch and 32-inch round barrels. Unlike the heavier target Ballards, the No. 1½ was not factory-equipped with a tang sight. Receivers stamped 'J. M. Marlin' date to before about 1881, after which they were marked 'Marlin Fire Arms Co.' Quoted weight and length vary with barrel length and chambering.