Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 762 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.57 kg
- Introduced
- 1879
About
What it is, and why it matters
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.
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.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Marlin Firearms
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1879 to 1883
- Variant of
- Hunting
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 762 mm
- Overall length
- 1201 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.57 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Falling block
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single action
- 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
- 411 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 2215 J
- Effective range
- 270 m
- Maximum range
- 900 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
Winchester style finger lever
Automatic shell ejection
Ballard deep rifling
Round barrel
Rocky mountain rear sight
Rifle buttplate
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 54 .45-70 Government rifles | 4.57 kg | 4.08 kg | Heavier than about 80% |
| Overall lengthAmong 52 .45-70 Government rifles | 1201 mm | 1198 mm | Near the median |
| Barrel lengthAmong 58 .45-70 Government rifles | 762 mm | 711 mm | Longer than about 70% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 57 .45-70 Government rifles | 1 | 1 | Holds fewer rounds than about 70% |
Answers
Questions about the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle
How much does the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle weigh?
The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle weighs 4.57 kg (10.08 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle?
The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle is chambered in .45-70 Government.
How many rounds does the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle hold?
The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle holds 1 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle?
The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle is 1201 mm (47.3 in) long overall, with a 762 mm (30.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle?
The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle is made by Marlin Firearms (United States). It was designed by Charles Henry Ballard.
When was the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle introduced?
The Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle was introduced in 1879 and discontinued in 1883.
How does the Ballard No. 1½ Hunter's Rifle operate?
The Ballard No. 1½ 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 hunters and target shooters
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
66%
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-112-hunter-s-rifle' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "ballard-no-112-hunter-s-rifle", "name": "Ballard No. 1½ 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": 1879, "barrel_length_mm": 762, "weight_empty_g": 4570, "action_type": "falling_block"}