Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a Brown Manufacturing Company Ballard Patent Single Shot Sporting Rifle manufactured from 1869 to 1873 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with at least 500 produced according to the Flederman guide.
Brown Manufacturing was one of several small shops that tried to carve out a share of the post-Civil War sporting rifle market. The Ballard falling block was a solid, well-known design, simple and strong, popular with hunters and target shooters. Brown didn’t invent it, he made his own version of it for a few years before it was discontinued.
.46 caliber, 30 inch round barrel. The production window from 1869 to 1873 tells you almost the whole story of what happened. While Sharps and Remington were already established, the market declined faster than expected and smaller organizations like Brown were unable to compete.
The frame shows restoration and the barrel has full dovetails, which means it has been really used. In any case, survivors are so few that collectors pursuing Ballard variants pay attention when one comes across one.
Most of our POTDs use images of our friends Rock Island Auction CompanyMajor firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse them current auction – Who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Scarce Brown Manufacturing Company Ballard Patent Single Shot Sporting Rifle.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/21/scarce-brown-mfg-co-ballard-patent-single-shot-sporting-rifle. Accessed 28 May 2026.
