Ballard No. 5 Pacific

About the Ballard No. 5 Pacific

The Ballard No. 5 Pacific 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. Introduced around 1876 as the heavy buffalo and long-range model of the Marlin-Ballard line, the Pacific was fitted with a heavy octagon barrel of roughly 30 inches and chambered for powerful black-powder cartridges such as the .45-70 Government along with .44-77, .40-65 and other large calibers. Weighing between 10 and 12 pounds, it was worked by a finger lever that dropped the breechblock, used Marlin's automatic extractor, and commonly carried double-set triggers with provision for a long-range tang aperture sight, making it one of the principal rifles used to hunt buffalo on the American frontier.

Marketed as a buffalo and long-range rifle, the No. 5 Pacific's heavy octagon barrel and heavy black-powder chamberings made it a favorite of frontier market hunters and, in its target guise, of the long-range shooting matches that flourished in 1870s America.

Ballard No. 5 Pacific specifications

The No. 5 Pacific sat at the heavy end of the New Ballard sporting family, above the lighter No. 1 Hunter's and below dedicated Schuetzen target models. Listed weights, barrel lengths and chamberings varied between individual guns; figures here reflect a typical .45-70 heavy-barrel example.