Ferguson shooters

[lexington1]

I just picked up a Narragannsett Ferguson rifle. I am anxious to shoot it. I cast up some .649 balls. How do you fellows deal with the sprue? It seems like it might be a problem to place it consistently in the fire chamber.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

For the Ferguson rifle I made, from a Rifle Shoppe parts set,  I bought a Rapine mould casting a .650 ball.  It had such a tiny sprue, I ignored it.  I just rolled the ball into the chamber, and filled it with powder.  I found it useful to use a little dog-legged starter to ensure the ball was hard up against the rifling.  That was a remarkably accurate rifle.

[lexington1]

The little starter to seat the ball sounds like a good idea! That was my other concern was whether or not the ball was consistently seated into the chamber each time. I might have to just try to find another mold that has a smaller sprue. My mold is a Lyman. It throws good looking balls, but the sprue is pretty high.

[Daryl]

You can roll the balls between two steel or glass plates which will peen the spruces down some.
Some guys put them into "rotary" tumblers which do the same thing.

[smart dog]

Hi,
Just cut the sprue off close and don't worry about it.  Put the balls in a bag with beeswax so as they roll around they get a light coating of wax.  A 0.648 ball shoots well in my Ferguson, however, I can only get at most 55 grains of powder behind it.  I suspect there was some variation in the depth of the powder chambers on TRS's Ferguson breeches.  When you push in the ball and then pour in the powder, don't over load it.  If you have excess powder that then gets ground into the threads above the chamber, you will foul the action quickly.  Use 3F Swiss powder.  Also, lubricate the screw plug threads with a mix of 50% beeswax and 50% tallow or Crisco.  Melt the lube in a pan and dip the screw plug in it, then install it in the rifle while the lube is still very soft.  I am able to get 30-40 shots off without cleaning the breech if I am careful loading and lube the screw plug. The Ferguson was almost certainly designed originally to shoot standard carbine ammunition, which was 0.615 caliber.  However, I never could achieve any accuracy whatsoever with that ball size.  I suspect the TRS Fergusons are a bit different from the originals.  The locks used on Fergusons were a mediocre in design in which the flintcock does not overlap the pan very much.  Consequently, you will get best results with long flints.  Also, the gun benefits greatly by having a White Lightning vent hole liner installed because the simple drilled vent hole has to go through a lot of metal to reach the powder chamber. 

dave   

[FlintFan]

Never worried about the sprue with mine.  Just snip if off as close as I can.  I shoot the .615 ball in mine, and can repeatedly overlap all balls at 100 yards. In fact it is one of the most accurate rifles I own, either black powder or modern.  I dip the round balls in melted beeswax and tallow, and seat them in the chamber with my pinky.  I built mine from Rifle Shoppe parts.

I've had similar accuracy with both Goex and Swiss 3F, but the Swiss prints about a foot higher at 100 yards than Goex.  It also burns cleaner which is a large advantage with a Ferguson.  Make sure to lube the breech screw as others have pointed out, and make sure to clean it well after each outing.

[lexington1]

Thanks for the information! I have sent for the book 'Every Insult and Indignity' but have not received it yet. I will definitely install a touchhole liner in it. I slugged a .649 ball through the barrel to see how it looks. It certainly looks like it should grip the rifling well.

[Daryl]

Please advise what the dimensions of that ball are now, land and groove?

[lexington1]

The groove measurement is right at .642 and the land measurement is .620, measured from the slugged ball.

[Daryl]

Thanks, good to know.  For that barrel, I would think a .645" might be the largest I would try. That should give a long enough rifling engagement without
too much distortion.

[Water Sheltie]

On my Rifle Shoppe Ferguson, shoot the .615 ball using the 50/50 bees wax and crisco mix as lube for bullet and on screw breech, the swiss 3F seems to work the best.
Never give much thought about the spruce.
Not period proper, but just use the chamber flag to set the ball to save my little finger

[Daryl]

Walter, what's the bore and groove size of the Rifle Shop Ferguson?
I thought the one Taylor built was one of their action/bls - and he used a .650" ball.

[Water Sheltie]

My info would be from the Rifle Shoppe web sit , the books Every Insult, and a book about British flintlock rifles.
My Rifle Shoppe Ferguson will take roughly 65 grains 3F, swiss seems to work best.
Tried ,645 balls and wasn't happy with it, recall reading that British carbines at that time used a .615 ball, so that's what Ferguson used to minimize the logistics. Would be interesting to try various sizes between the 2.
Don't have access to the books at this time, so won't swear to it.

[Bob Roller]

What prevents badly leaded barrels?There seems to be no lube used.
Bob Roller

[wormey]

Bob, the balls are lubed by dipping in melted lube.  I love mine and enjoy shooting it, but don`t do so much.  The stocks on these are fragile to say the least due to the amount of wood removed where the threaded plug goes.  I too shoot primarily the .615 ball in my Rifle Shoppe Ferguson.  Wormey