GUN FALL 2015
The live portion of this session begins on Monday, October 5, 2015.
RARE MARLIN BALLARD #5 PACIFIC SINGLE SHOT TARGET RIFLE. MARLIN BALLARD #5 31311 45-70 Cal. 45-70. Rare Ballard rifle with 28" medium weight oct bbl. Mounted with a 31-1/4" Malcolm scope in Malcolm mounts with decorated nickel silver eye piece & dbl cross-hairs for ranging shots. Eye piece scope cover is still present. Top of scope is mounted with a small V-notch fixed rear sight with a brass bead atop front scope ring. Bbl also has a semi-buckhorn rear sight. Mounted with uncheckered, straight grain American walnut with slight Schnable tip forearm that has single thru screw and straight stock with slightly curved smooth steel buttplate. Bottom of bbl has 2 iron guides containing what appears to be the orig brass tipped hickory ramrod. It has dbl-set triggers & small loop finger lever. This model Ballard was produced 1876 to about 1890 in a large variety of calibers from the diminutive 38-50 through the 50-70 government. These rifles remained in service well into the 20th Century with a documented encounter by a reliable reporter as having seen a hunter in the Rocky Mountains, hunting elk with a Ballard Pacific about 5 years ago. They were reliable & accurate rifles. A photograph on pg 154 of the book Ballard, Dutcher illustrates a group of hunters outside a prairie or mountain cabin festooned with a large variety of wild game, including antelope, rabbits, ducks, geese & other birds. All of the men are holding firearms and the gentleman on the right end is holding what appears to be a Ballard Pacific with full length telescope. He is identified as Winfield Scott Stratton, who became a millionaire mine owner at Victor, CO, became one of Colorado''s leading philanthropists, giving most of his fortune to the needy. The fact that this rifle originated in Colorado and was consigned from there lends credence to the speculation that this may be Mr. Stratton''s rifle. CONDITION: Fine, no disassembly effected to check for matching SNs. Bbl retains about 80-85% strong orig blue. Receiver shows smoky case colors turning silver. There are 2 or 3 fine hairlines in the wrist, otherwise wood is sound with a few small nicks and some chemical staining down the comb with the buttstock retaining about 85% orig finish and the forearm about 60%. Mechanics are fine. Strong bright, shiny bore with some minor roughness in front of the chamber. Scope retains traces of orig finish, mostly a grey/brown patina. Optics are fine, cross-hairs are intact. 49124-1 JR (10,000-15,000)