my ballard action has serial number 85xx  any ideas how old it is
I assume it was originally a Pacific (set triggers)  resurrected and reblued by Jerry de Vaudreiul, new barrel by Segrist, new stock by John Grant then to me   as usual shoots better than I can hold it
dick eesley

schuetzen bob    the buttstock was replaced by John Grant so no help there   It is a forged action  dick

schuetzen bob   actually it doesn't look like much   no forearm, use a pipe clamp as a stop on the barrel much to jim bortons disgust---  on the theory that the more targets you shoot in assra matches - the more chance you might get lucky   I have been lucky in shooting 5 groups under .500" at 200 yards in our assra matches   thank you for your reply dick eesley

It would be difficult to guesstimate the age of your Ballard without knowing if it is marked JM Marlin or Marlin Firearms Co. on the left side of the receiver. All JM Marlin marked Ballards were pre 1881, as the name changed when the company incorporated in 1882 and became Marlin Firearms Co. Unfortunately, they restarted the serial numbers when the company name changed, so there are duplicates within each company name marking.
As for which model it started out as, it could be one of many, as every model could be special ordered with double set triggers. I have #2 and #4 Ballards with special order DST, plus #5 Pacifics, so not so easy.
However, if it has the two small holes on either side of the center forearm hole, on the front of the receiver, then it was most definitely a #5 to begin with.