Ferguson breech-loading rifle
Fusil Ferguson de retrocarga
- Date
- 1776 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Patrick Ferguson
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
A flintlock rifle with a screw plug under the barrel that, with a single turn, opened the breech and let the shooter load from behind and fire four to six rounds a minute. It was one of the first breech-loaders in British army service, though in a single experimental unit.
The Frenchman Isaac de la Chaumette had patented a similar screw system in 1721; Ferguson improved it and brought it into service. Only about a hundred were made because of their cost.
What it led to
- 19th-century breech-loading rifles
- the British riflemen corps (Rifle Brigade)
- screw-plug breech mechanisms