The .32-40 Ballard is an American rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 cartridge

Cartridge (firearms)

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...

.

Introduced in 1884, the .32-40 was developed as a black powder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

 match-grade round for the Ballard single-shot Union Hill No. 8 and 9 target rifles. Using a 165 gr bullet over 40 gr of black powder (muzzle velocity 1440 ft/s (438.9 m/s), muzzle energy 755 ft·lbf (1,023.6 J)), the factory load gained a reputation for fine accuracy, with a midrange trajectory of 11 inches (27.9 cm) at 200 yard. It was available in Winchester

Winchester Repeating Arms Company

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester brand is today used under license by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group, Fabrique Nationale of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Morgan, Utah.-...

 and Marlin

Marlin Firearms

Marlin Firearms Co., formerly of North Haven, Connecticut, is a manufacturer of high power, center fire, lever action, and .22 caliber rimfire rifles. In the past, the company made shotguns, derringers and revolvers...

 lever

Lever-action

Lever-action is a type of firearm action which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area, to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is worked. Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have also been made...

 rifles beginning in 1886. It stopped being a factory chambering around 1940.

It provides performance sufficient for deer at up to 300 yard in a modern rifle, for which it can be loaded to about equal the .30-30

.30-30 Winchester

The .30-30 Winchester/.30 Winchester Center Fire/7.62×51mmR cartridge was first marketed in early 1895 for the Winchester Model 1894 lever-action rifle. The .30-30 , as it is most commonly known, was the USA's first small-bore, sporting rifle cartridge designed for smokeless powder. The .30-30 is...

. It is more than enough for varmints, including coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

s and wolves, or medium-sized game.

The .32-40 also served as the basis for Harry Pope's wildcat

Wildcat

Wildcat is a small felid native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa.-Animals:Wildcat may also refer to members of the genus Lynx:...

 .33-40

.33-40 Pope

The .33-40 Pope is a wildcat cartridge designed around 1900 by Harry Pope, a noted rifleman. The cartridge is a necked up .32-40 Ballard. It was Pope's favorite wildcat, and was often used with great success by him....

.

See also

• List of cartridges by caliber
• List of rifle cartridges
• Ballard Union Hill
• Stevens 44
• .33-40 Pope
  .33-40 Pope
  The .33-40 Pope is a wildcat cartridge designed around 1900 by Harry Pope, a noted rifleman. The cartridge is a necked up .32-40 Ballard. It was Pope's favorite wildcat, and was often used with great success by him....
  
  
• 8mm caliber

Sources

• Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. Cartridges of the World (Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972),