Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 711 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.85 kg
- Introduced
- 1876
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Ballard No. 1 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. Introduced in 1876 as one of the lighter sporting models of the Marlin-Ballard line, the No. 1 Hunter's was offered in .44 rimfire and .44 centerfire and fitted with a round barrel of roughly 26 to 30 inches. The action was worked by a finger lever that dropped the breechblock, and the rifle incorporated Marlin's automatic extractor and a reversible firing pin so a single arm could be set up for either rimfire or centerfire ammunition. Barrels were typically rifled with six concentric grooves with a right-hand twist, and better examples carried high-quality double-set triggers.
The lightest of the New Ballard hunting rifles, the No. 1 Hunter's traded the heft of the Pacific buffalo guns for a handy round-barrel sporter — a reversible firing pin let one rifle feed either .44 rimfire or centerfire, making it a versatile small-bore companion for the late black-powder frontier.
The No. 1 Hunter's was the entry sporting rifle of the New Ballard family marketed by Marlin from the mid-1870s, sitting below the heavier No. 1 1/2 Hunter's and No. 5 Pacific buffalo models. Listed weights, barrel lengths and chamberings varied between individual guns; figures here reflect a typical .44-rimfire example.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Marlin Firearms
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1876 to 1891
- Variant of
- Hunting
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 711 mm
- Overall length
- 1120 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.85 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Falling block
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Double set
- Capacity
- 1
- Magazine
- Internal
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 335 m/s
- Effective range
- 180 m
- Maximum range
- 500 m
- Rate of fire
- 8 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Falling block action
Finger lever
Automatic extractor
Reversible firing pin
Round barrel
Double set triggers
Rocky mountain front sight
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 1,612 rifles | 3.85 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 60% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1120 mm | 1080 mm | Longer than about 60% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 711 mm | 584 mm | Longer than about 80% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 1 | 5 | Holds fewer rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle
How much does the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle weigh?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle weighs 3.85 kg (8.50 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle is chambered in .44 Long Rimfire.
How many rounds does the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle hold?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle holds 1 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle is 1120 mm (44.1 in) long overall, with a 711 mm (28.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle is made by Marlin Firearms (United States). It was designed by Charles Henry Ballard.
When was the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle introduced?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle was introduced in 1876 and discontinued in 1891.
How does the Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle operate?
The Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle uses a falling block action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- American sport and small-game hunters
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
72%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/ballard-no-1-hunter-s-rifle' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "ballard-no-1-hunter-s-rifle", "name": "Ballard No. 1 Hunter's Rifle", "manufacturer": { "id": "marlin", "name": "Marlin Firearms", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1870, "website": "https://www.marlinfirearms.com", "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-02-11 23:44:38", "updatedAt": "2026-02-18 03:40:45", "version": "08b9da27118c263f9c36f65336e51854a1570768f3f677491f8144ee945b8d1f" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1876, "barrel_length_mm": 711, "weight_empty_g": 3855, "action_type": "falling_block"}