Description
The Ballard breechloader is considered one of the finest examples of how a series of gradual refinements led to the development of a popular firearm during the highly competitive era of the singe shot breechloaders.
Having earned a reputation as being absolutely reliable from its inception during the early years of the Civil War, the Ballard, much like the Sharps and Remington Rolling Block, departed the 1860’s into a new age.
Produced by six different manufacturers in an almost 30 year period, it became conspicuous with the settling of the West, a nation wide favorite of the Schuetzen and target shooter, as well as a companion of the outdoorsman.
This book is intended to provide a basic insight to the standard catalog variations of the Ballard, its cartridges and other pertinent data relating to this family of single shot rifles.
This book documents the saga of this fine rifle from the first production models made by Ball & Williams to the Marlin Firearms Company which was manufacturing the rifle when production ceased in 1891, to a reproduction manufactured in the 1990s.
The Table of Contents includes the following:
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 Background of the Ballard Rifle
- Chapter 2 The Patent of Charles H. Ballard
- Chapter 3 Variations of the Ballard From 1861 through 1873
- Chapter 4 Variations of the Marlin/Ballard from 1875 to End of Production
- Chapter 5 The Ballard Cartridges
- Chapter 6 The Ballard Reproductions of the 1990’s
- Chapter 7 The Ballard Rifle and Today’s Shooter
- Chapter 8 Reprint of the 1888 Marlin Firearms Company Catalog
- Bibliography
250 illustrations. Soft cover, 261 pages, 9 x 6 format.
