If you love Ballards – and I do – you are in Nirvana looking at this issue’s cover. Thanks to regular contributing writer Leo Remiger, we have an assortment of fine single-shot rifles to feast our eyes on. Okay, I’m seeing a few Winchesters, some Stevens and at least one Borchardt, but the rest are good ol’ Ballards. And the man probably responsible for the vast majority of those great Ballards is none other than Axel Peterson, kneeling in front holding the Ballard with the ivory cue-ball palmrest and the cute Schuetzenfraulein just to his left. Take a good look at some of those rifles . . . there are some expensive outfits there. I especially like the Ballard with the capbox on the stock. You know . . . that gives me an idea.
Thanks to Leo again, but more importantly to Jan Wills, owner of the original photo. Jan wanted to dedicate this cover to the memory of Michael Petrov and John Wills, two avid single-shot riflemen/collectors. I would bet that the two of them probably owned some of the rifles in that photo.
