Ballard No. 6½ Rigby
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 762 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.42 kg
- Introduced
- 1883
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby is a single-shot, breech-loading falling-block target rifle built on Charles Henry Ballard's action and produced by Marlin Firearms of New Haven, Connecticut from about 1883 to 1891. Conceived as an 'off-hand' rifle for standing-position target work, the No. 6½ used a three-finger lever, a crisp single trigger, and a conservative Swiss-style buttplate with modest prongs. Its name and signature feature come from the three flats worked into the barrel where it joins the action, a detail inspired by the Dublin and London gunmaker John Rigby & Co. Examples carried upgraded English walnut with a cheekpiece, an engraved muzzle and action, a wind-gauge front sight, and a Ballard 'improved' tang sight with elevation scale. Originally chambered for the .40-65 and .44-75 Ballard cartridges, it was later offered in lighter chamberings such as .32-40 and .38-55 Ballard.
Named for the Rigby barrel flats it borrowed from the famous Dublin and London gunmakers, the No. 6½ Rigby was the refined off-hand target rifle of the Marlin-Ballard family — built for the deliberate standing shooter who valued a crisp single trigger and a fine walnut cheekpiece over the raw heft of a buffalo gun.
Specifications vary considerably from gun to gun because the No. 6½ was a high-grade, semi-custom offering; barrel lengths of roughly 28 to 30 inches and weights from about 9¾ to over 10 pounds were common. The .40-65 listed here is the proprietary Ballard chambering (also seen as the .40-65 Everlasting), distinct from the later .40-65 Winchester. Receivers marked 'Marlin Fire Arms Co.' date the gun to after about 1881.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Marlin Firearms
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1883 to 1891
- Variant of
- Target
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 762 mm
- Overall length
- 1170 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.42 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
- 396 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 1678 J
- Effective range
- 230 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
Three finger lever
Single trigger- Rigby style barrel flats
Swiss style buttplate
English walnut cheekpiece
Wind gauge front sight- Ballard improved tang sight
Scroll engraved action
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 | 4.42 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1170 mm | 1080 mm | Longer than about 70% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 762 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. 6½ Rigby
How much does the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby weigh?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby weighs 4.42 kg (9.74 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby is chambered in .40-65 Ballard.
How many rounds does the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby hold?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby holds 1 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby is 1170 mm (46.1 in) long overall, with a 762 mm (30.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby is made by Marlin Firearms (United States). It was designed by Charles Henry Ballard.
When was the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby introduced?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby was introduced in 1883 and discontinued in 1891.
How does the Ballard No. 6½ Rigby operate?
The Ballard No. 6½ Rigby 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 off-hand and target shooters
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
60%
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-612-rigby' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "ballard-no-612-rigby", "name": "Ballard No. 6½ Rigby", "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": 1883, "barrel_length_mm": 762, "weight_empty_g": 4420, "action_type": "falling_block"}