Ballard No. 5 Pacific
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 813 mm
- Weight, empty
- 5.44 kg
- Introduced
- 1876
About
What it is, and why it matters
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.
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.
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
- 813 mm
- Overall length
- 1220 mm
- Weight, empty
- 5.44 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
- 411 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 2215 J
- Effective range
- 270 m
- Maximum range
- 1000 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
Ring lever
Double set triggers
Heavy octagon barrel
Rocky mountain front sight
Semi buckhorn rear sight- Tang sight provision
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 | 5.44 kg | 4.08 kg | Among the heaviest tenth |
| Overall lengthAmong 52 .45-70 Government rifles | 1220 mm | 1198 mm | Longer than about 60% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 58 .45-70 Government rifles | 813 mm | 711 mm | Longer than about 80% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 57 .45-70 Government rifles | 1 | 1 | Holds fewer rounds than about 70% |
Answers
Questions about the Ballard No. 5 Pacific
How much does the Ballard No. 5 Pacific weigh?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific weighs 5.44 kg (11.99 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Ballard No. 5 Pacific?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific is chambered in .45-70 Government.
How many rounds does the Ballard No. 5 Pacific hold?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific holds 1 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Ballard No. 5 Pacific?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific is 1220 mm (48.0 in) long overall, with a 813 mm (32.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Ballard No. 5 Pacific?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific is made by Marlin Firearms (United States). It was designed by Charles Henry Ballard.
When was the Ballard No. 5 Pacific introduced?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific was introduced in 1876 and discontinued in 1891.
How does the Ballard No. 5 Pacific operate?
The Ballard No. 5 Pacific 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 buffalo and big-game hunters
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
68%
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-5' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "ballard-no-5", "name": "Ballard No. 5 Pacific", "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": 813, "weight_empty_g": 5440, "action_type": "falling_block"}