Cleaning rod?

Ballards

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dickaye
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Cleaning rod?

Post by dickaye »

So why was the number five Ballard furnished with an attached cleaning rod and the other models were not? Were other models furnished with an "unattached" cleaning rod? Was the attached cleaning rod on the number five an option that could be declined? Finally, was the number five any more prone to barrel fouling than other rifles of the times, thus the need for a handy cleaning rod?
Regnier (gunrunner)
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Re: Cleaning rod?

Post by Regnier (gunrunner) »

Richard;

The Number 5 Pacific, the Number 5 1/2 Montanna and the number 4 1/4 were all equiped with a cleaning rod mounted under the barrel. These were "big bore" hunting rifles so I suppose that having a cleaning rod handy was the idea in mounting it under the barrel. Some Ballards were sold with a cleaning rod as part of the package deal. I doubt that they were more prone to fouling of the bore than any other rifle, it is just that some of the buffalo hunters would clean the bore after a certain number of shots were fired so to maintain accuracy.
If someone wanted a gun without the cleaning rod, there were other models available in the same calibers as the Pacific, so there were have been no need to "special order" a Pacific without the attached cleaning rod.
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marlinman93
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Re: Cleaning rod?

Post by marlinman93 »

The #5 Pacific was the most commonly seen Ballard with the cleaning rod, and it has caused confusion when people see the rare 5 1/2 and 4 1/4 models. People who are familiar with the #5 often see a 5 1/2 and think it's a Pacific. Likewise, people who see a 4 1/4 think someone robbed the double set triggers out of a Pacific and swapped in a single trigger. It's what makes Ballards interesting!
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