The Ferguson Rifle

[ckkalyan]

I first came across this rifle in a novel by Louis L’amour called appropriately, The Ferguson Rifle. It was such an interesting weapon for its time in the late 1770’s that it sparked my interest and prompted me to do some digging. The performance of this weapon in it’s time must have seemed amazing. I am sharing the information here with fellow IFG’ians.

The Ferguson, Breech Loading, Flintlock Rifle, standard British carbine ball of .615 caliber


Developed by Major Patrick Ferguson, the breech loading Ferguson Rifle had the potential to eliminate the great disadvantages of the muzzle loaders of the period. Ferguson's rifle combined the speed of a musket with the accuracy of a rifle. Ferguson was able to load and fire as many as six rounds per minute, hitting targets at up to 200 yards and hitting a bulls-eye at 100 yards from a prone position.

Only about 100 Ferguson Rifles were produced, only a few originals survive today.

The development of this rifle was abandoned after Ferguson’s death.

Sources & Links:

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_rifle

National Park Service Display http://www.nps.gov/history/history/onli ... /hh22m.htm

Write up http://www.11thpa.org/ferguson.html

Article on firing a reproduction http://johno.myiglou.com/ferguson.htm

Timed Firing Youtube - by Rick Roberts – an astounding 7 shots per minute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CFFkg-_UI

[Vikram]

That is an exceedingly interesting post,Kalyan. I do remember having read about it in one of L'Amour's novels. The video was great too.Thanks for the post.


Best-
Vikram

[ckkalyan]

Glad you liked it Vikram - thanks.

Lots of effort seems to have gone into the video - it was well set up with period costumes etc. It got really interesting towards the end where the chap got discouraged and almost gave up trying to load and fire the 7th shot Poor fellow must have been under tremendous pressure!

[timmy]

Kalyan, thanks for the article links and writeup! The Ferguson Rifle is a very interesting subject!

[ckkalyan]

Hola Timmy,

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it! Muchas Gracias

[vrohan59]

Thanks for the post really enjoyed it

[arpad]

As a comment on the knife's edge on which history can sometimes balance it's believed that Major Ferguson, armed with his eponymous rifle, had at one point an opportunity to shoot a rebel officer. The officer? George Washington - link

[Sakobav]

Thanks for the post CK very informative

Cheers

[ckkalyan]

@ ngrewal, vrohan59 - thank you for your kind comments

@ arpad your link to "George Washington's life spared: Major Patrick Ferguson's rifle was 100 years ahead of its time" made very interesting reading. Many thanks for that piece of information.