While this is not my rifle in particular (I got the photo from the Ballard Rifle Company's web site), it is representative of mine. I've got an original Ballard Pacific, made in about 1880 or so. It accompanied the Robinson brothers when they made their journey North from Lake Chelan up to the Northern end of the Okanogan valley. There is a pass on an old horse trail to this day up in the North Cascades called Robinson Pass. Anyway, it has a full octagon 32" barrel, was originally chambered in .40-63 Ballard (same as .40-65 Winchester), but was re-chambered and re-bored to .45-70 by a gun smith in Oroville back in the '40's. When I first got it the wood was all dried out and cracked in several places, the action was all but rusted shut, and the barrel looked like the exhaust manifold on an old Chevy. After several months of clean-up work and rebuilding the action, I started shooting it. Straight black powder only, with the Lyman #457193 420 grain flat nose. Within a year I had shot a beautiful 4 x 7 mulie up in - guess where - the Okanogan valley (Robinson Pass is inside the North Cascades National Park, so no deer shooting there). Anyway, when I get home tonight I'll post a photo of my rifle. It's not as pretty as the new one, but it's got character.
