doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Single shot actions

Vall,
I don't think I can agree with that assessment of the Hepburn. It is strong. But that's all. So are any of the Sharps models, the 1885 Winchester and even rolling blocks. The side lever may be convenient, but they aren't great for dealing with stuck cases which are a fact of life sooner or later. Nor do they chamber a recalcitrant cartridge.

I don't see any advantage to opening and closing "... without changing his hold". After all, he will have to extract and then thumb in a cartridge with one hand or the other. Typically, the right hand does this for all right handed Hepburn shooters I know, and that's a fair number. I do not see a single ergonomic advantage to them among all the rifles on the BPCR and BPTR firing lines.

They are a fine, if odd looking and fitting, rifle. But I don't think they have anything on a Model 1885 Singleshot - which is also a heck of a lot better looking in my opinion.

When it comes to single shot hammer rifles, I don't think the American guns take a backseat to anyone. I just prefer the Winchester over all the others. Good as they are.

Will enter this discussion between two experts who have probably handled more SS rifles than I have seen.
Once you have handled a Ballard at the range or in the field, all the other rifles seem clumsy.
Yes, the others work and are stronger, but the Ballard is certainly adequate for most situations.
Chuck

I've never personally owned a Hepburn, but the right one or three or four will follow me home some time. I'm not worried about it. Much as I can understand what a great action the 1885 is, I just perceive them as being relatively common. I wouldn't be overly broken up about stumbling on a bargain original Sharps '77, but I suppose I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Craigd there is a very nice original long range 77 for sale on Morphys. Go for it.

Chuck, other than the generally very nice triggers on Ballards, I don't find them any better handling and they do have constraints on how they can be cocked without breakage. Winchesters can be operated from any po position and are very conveniently cocked on closing.

I have liked my Ballards, but not moreso than any others. However, You are not alone on you love of Ballards.

This thread has been going for a spell and I'm late to it. I'm not a hunter, but in my healthier days I was an out-in-the-woods forester. Kept a Krag behind the truck seat. I'm also a single shot fanatic and view those who hunt with single shots as still hunters, stalkers and woods walkers.

I have an original Alexander Henry. Big hammer, easy & quiet to cock, great single trigger, OK extraction, but carry bent-nosed pliers and a multi-piece cleaning rod in your possible bag.

I think one of Steve Earle's would make up into an ideal big game hunting rifle.

I have no idea what a "recalcitrant cartridge" is? So can't even address that.
Louis L Hepburn was a consummate shooter, and especially a long range shooter, having been a member of the first US Creedmoor team. And after his time shooting longrange he immediately set to building a better single shot action to improve upon the Rolling Blocks that half the US team shot at Creedmoor. The Hepburn is a shooter's gun, designed to be strong, and most efficient for the shooter to use. It's side lever was designed specifically to make shooting easier for the shooter, and it most certainly does.
As for stuck cartridges, I've owned single shot rifles for decades in every configuration and maker and to date never had a cartridge that was stuck in any of them that opening the lever, (even a Hepburn lever) wouldn't pop it free. And the extractor on a Hepburn has a snapping motion more like an ejector, so when you open a Hepburn it's likely the case will eject, so you wont be fumbling to draw a empty out, you'll be grabbing a loaded round to chamber.
A Hepburn is much easier to maintain your position, even when you eject the case and insert a loaded round because you have no under lever requiring clearance. Now if you're shooting offhand that's not as much of an issue, but just swinging your thumb away from the top tang and swiping the side lever down is certainly less movement, and much faster than opening up any under lever. I bet I can unload and reload my Hepburn faster than you do your High Wall, and likely have another shot off before the High Wall shooter has chambered a round. When hunting, that's a real plus if a 2nd shot is needed.
As for strength, I love Rolling Block rifles, but would NEVER put them in the same class as the group of single shits you listed it with! They're far weaker than all the rest in that group.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But the original question wasn't about which made the most beautiful hunting rifle? If it was my answer would have been the Ballard rifles I love. But a Hepburn is beautiful to my eyes, and it's still my favorite action for a hunting rifle.

I suppose you do have to be smart enough to not cock the hammer and then try to open your Ballard. But not sure that says much for the owner/shooter of a gun?
Some would say cocking on closing can be dangerous, because you have to be smart enough to not leave it cocked after closing the action. That's not a good selling point for a hunting rifle. It's also why Winchester dropped that feature in later models.

For Waterman, Steve Earl Wesson. Lots of potential for a hunting rifle.

Besides being common, the 1885 was also very late to the game. One of the last single shot rifles to be offered by an American gun maker. All the other makers had been at it for many years prior to Winchester finally buying Browning's patent.
And there's a fun story behind Winchester's evolution into single shot rifles. Their Western salesman sent a telegraph to the factory telling them he was having trouble competing with the other big sellers of single shot rifles because those single shot rifles chambered big heavy cartridges capable of taking the largest game easily. He went on to point out one gun in particular as a tough gun to beat. He said every hunter he ran into was carrying a Ballard Pacific out West. I have no idea if the salesman was exaggerating, but the Pacific certainly was the best selling single shot rifle out West, and one of Marlins best selling of the many Ballard variations.
In the Jan. 1896 issue of Shooting and Fishing magazine one reader wrote, "We riflemen want a double set trigger rifle about the lines of a Ballard Pacific, and don't let the manufacturer forget it.-wiping rod under the barrel and all."
That was 6 years after Marlin had ceased building all Ballard models.