Ferguson rifle

Ferguson Rifle
British Army manual for the Ferguson rifle
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	Great Britain
Service history
In service	British Army 1776
Used by	United Kingdom
Wars	American Revolutionary War The War of 1812 (limited)
Production history
Designed	1770
Produced	1776–1778
No. built	200
Variants	?
Specifications
Weight	7.5 lbs (3.5 kg)
Length	various: 48 to 60 in
Barrel length	?
Cartridge	.615 in
Caliber	.650 in
Action	See Text
Rate of fire	7 rounds a minute
Muzzle velocity	Variable
Effective firing range	200 and 300 yard sights on the Ordnance Rifle
Feed system	Breech-loaded

American Revolutionary War

The Ferguson rifle was one of the first breech-loading rifles to be put into service by the British military. It fired a standard British carbine ball of .615 calibres and was used by the British Army in the American War of Independence at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, and possibly at the Siege of Charleston in 1780.

Its superior firepower was unappreciated at the time because it was too expensive and took longer to produce – the four gunsmiths making Ferguson's Ordnance Rifle could not make 100 in 6 months at four times the cost per arm of a musket.

The breech of the weapon is closed by 11 starting threads on a tapered screw, and the trigger guard serves as the crank to rotate it. One complete turn dropped the screw low enough to drop a round ball into the exposed breech followed by a slight overcharge of powder, which was then sheared to the proper charge by the screw as it closed the breech. Since the weapon was loaded from the breech, rather than from the muzzle, it had an amazingly high rate of fire for its day, and in capable hands, it fired six to ten rounds per minute.

The action was adapted from the earlier 1720 Isaac de la Chaumette design by Major Patrick Ferguson (1744–1780), who redesigned it around 1770. He received an English patent in December of 1776 (number 1139) on details of the design.

Roughly one hundred of the Ordnance rifles were manufactured by four British gun firms, Durs Egg being the most notable, and issued to Ferguson's unit when its members were drawn from numerous light infantry units in General Howe's army. The largest battle in which the rifles were used was the Battle of Brandywine, in which Ferguson was wounded. While he recuperated, his Experimental Rifle Corps was subsequently disbanded. This was in no way due to "excessive losses" or any political machinations; the unit was an experiment, and the men were always slated to return to their original units.