Hi,
Ferguson was not way ahead of his time. Here is a quote from the beginning of Chapter 3 in Bailey's book "British Military Flintlock Rifles".
"The screwplug design that Patrick Ferguson adopted [not invented] for his breech-loading rifle was by no means an innovation in 1776. The basic idea dates back to at least the last quarter of the 17th century, when it was utilized by Daniel Lagatz of Danzig, and it was produced, in a version extremely close to what Ferguson later used, by French engineer Isaac de la Chaumette in 1700 and 1704. De la Chaumette actually received English patent No. 434 in August 1721 fir this and related mechanisms, and various English gunmakers including Lewis and James Barbar, Joseph Cookson, and James Freeman produced "Ferguson" rifles during the first half of the 18th century, as did Penterman the elder in Utrecht. The fact that Ferguson was allowed a patent can only serve to illustrate the ignorance of those who granted it."
La Chaumette's thread design was the same as Ferguson's requiring only one full turn to expose the chamber and a second to remove the plug. The all metal breech and action used by Chaumette and Cookson, like the turn-off pistols at the time, was superior to Ferguson's design because it did not suffer the fatal weakness of the wooden stock about the breech that plagued the Ferguson. It would have been almost impossible for the British government/gunmaker/tradesmen partnership that constituted the ordnance system to produce sufficient numbers of Fergusons to outfit a large proportion of the British army. The weak links in the chain of tradesmen producing arms were the barrel and lock makers. They were the most skilled and technically proficient workers in that chain and their skills were in demand not just in the arms industry but in a host of precision metal works. They could go where the money was so the gun makers who agreed to make Fergusons would have to pay for the precision work required to make the guns, and pay dearly. It was actually a matter of national security for the British government to keep lock and barrel makers in the firearms industry, particularly during time of peace, because they could work at many different jobs. The original Fergusons cost 4 pounds sterling each at a time when a short land Brown Bess cost 1 pound 12 shillings, almost 1/3 the price. Moreover, the Ferguson's required superfine rifle powder that cost over 7 pounds a barrel compared with 1 pound 5 shillings for a barrel of musket powder. The Ferguson was almost certainly designed to shoot the standard 0.615 carbine ball, however, my Ferguson made from TRS parts, shoots terribly with that round. It requires a larger ball to tighten groups. Ricky Roberts and Bryan Brown demonstrate good success with the carbine ball in their rifles using TRS parts but I cannot with mine. It makes me wonder if there is variance in the manufacture of those barrels and breeches. Finally, with proper lubing of the breech threads and careful loading, I can shoot up to 30 rounds before fouling starts to bind the screw plug. It is easy to quickly clean the plug with water and lube it again but under fighting conditions, there are so many ways you could screw up the loading procedure and bind your breech after just a few shots. Moreover, two turns and your screw plug drops out. That would be a disaster during battle. The Ferguson rifle was in no way ahead of its time. What was ahead of its time for the British army was Patrick Ferguson's effort and ability to get the army to form a dedicated rifle unit, and one using a breech loading rifle.
dave
