Ballard No. 5 Pacific

About the Ballard No. 5 Pacific

The Ballard No. 5 Pacific is a heavy single-shot, breech-loading falling-block rifle built on Charles Henry Ballard's 1861 patent and produced by Marlin Firearms from about 1876 to 1891. Marketed as a Western buffalo and big-game rifle, the No. 5 Pacific used a stout lever-operated falling-block action, a ring finger lever, and double-set triggers, and carried a long heavy octagon barrel of 30 to 32 inches. Chambered for powerful black-powder cartridges including the .45-70 Government, it weighed roughly eleven to twelve pounds and was fitted with a Rocky Mountain front sight, a semi-buckhorn rear sight, and provision for a folding tang sight.

Named for the Pacific slope of the American West it was meant to hunt, the No. 5 Pacific was the buffalo rifle of the Marlin-Ballard family, a falling-block built heavy enough to tame the big black-powder cartridges that brought down bison on the open plains.

Ballard No. 5 Pacific specifications

The No. 5 Pacific was offered in a range of heavy black-powder chamberings from .38-55 up through cartridges such as .40-85 Everlasting and .50-90; .45-70 Government was among the most common. Barrels came in standard or heavy weight, with stocks in rifle or shotgun butt configuration, so individual examples vary considerably.