Pictured is a Marlin Ballard Pacific in .40-55.  Not a well known cartridge (perhaps the only rifle ever chambered in this caliber).

Some of you who were around back in the 50s or 60s might remember Ward Koozer.  As I remember the story Ward was a partner with P. O.  Ackley before WWII.  After surviving the war he contracted polio and was confined to a wheelchair.  His wife left him, with a daughter, soon thereafter.

Being an inventive sort he built a machine for re-boring and rifling barrels and went into business in Coos Bay OR, where he resided and worked until the early-1970s when he moved to Apache Junction, AZ, which was then out in the country.  (It's now a suburb of Phoenix).  Sometime in the mid-1970s he decided to retire and take up making violins and he sold the machinery to Dick Geis in San Diego.

While Dick was in Apache Junction, learning to use the machine, he and Ward re-bored this formerly .38-55 barrel to a .401 groove diameter.

As you might suspect there is almost no taper in the case.

Ward made his own chambering reamers.  These were so crude looking that I was amazed anyone could have reamed a straight hole in a piece of 3/8" plate with one, but Ward cut absolutely beautiful chambers with them. He made a reamer and took the chamber out just enough so that you could fire form a .38-55 case in the gun and load them with a .401 caliber bullet (which I do with a .38-40 seating die).

That is a new one on me. Excellent!


JMH

Super nice rifle and history . Really add's a lot when the rifle's history follows it . The 40-55 sounds like a good balance between powder and bore size . If I may ask barrel length and ROT ?

It's definately a .40-55.  The straight Sharps 50 is shorter and wider at the base and rim than .38-55:

.38-55
Base .421
Rim .506
Case length: 2.085

Sharps
Base .454 
Rim .554
Case length: 1.88

I've shot the gun many times, all with cases formed from .48-55 brass.  It's a lot of fun.

As for Ward's wife doing the work, I sort of doubt that she did it for long.  I knew Dick Geis fairly well and he went up to visit Ward in Oregon on at least one occassion.  Dick said that Ward's shop, which he (Ward) built himself, was constructed for someone in a wheel chair - wide doors and a low ceiling.  Dick had to crouch down to even enter the place.

Somewhere in my collection of 35mm slides I have photos of the machine.  When I run across them I'll post the photos here.  It was clearly built to be run by someone in a wheel chair.

Beautiful rifle Smoke and well taken care of over the years.

Randy Redmon apprentised with Ward Kooser. Redmon talked about him alot in the 70's