Already at the beginning of the history of firearms, its creators tested two types of loading - from the breech and from the muzzle. The first was simple, the design of the muzzle-loading gun was simple, but loading it, especially if the barrel had a considerable length, was very inconvenient. When loading from the breech, the barrel length did not matter, but it was not easy to ensure the gas-tightness of the bolt at the level of technology at the time. Nevertheless, breech-loading guns and rifles were also created, but muzzle-loading weapons became widespread, as the simplest and cheapest. The problem arose when the barrels of handguns became rifled. The bullet, in order for it to fit into the grooves as tightly as possible, had to be hammered into the barrel with a special mallet, which had to be hit on the ramrod. For the same reason, the barrels of rifled guns were made shorter than those of smooth-bore guns, which forced the bayonets to be lengthened. But most importantly, the rate of fire suffered greatly from this!
“Forward, for freedom! Hooray! - American military history reenactors go on the attack.
How to make sure that the bullet and gunpowder hit the barrel from the breech? In this case, the bullet would fit tightly into the rifling, and a gun of such a system could be loaded not only while standing, but even lying down. For a long time, in general, no one succeeded, although individual attempts were made. The original sample of such a breech-loading rifle in the 1770s of the 18th century was designed by Major of the British Army Patrick Ferguson. Moreover, it was not only designed by him, but also tested in hostilities during the War of Independence of the North American colonies with England.
In fact, he proposed the most efficient version of a breech-loading handgun with a rifled barrel. Moreover, he did not invent anything fundamentally new: “screw squeaks” loaded from the treasury, which had a bolt screwed in from behind, were known long before him: they, for example, were made by Moscow gunsmiths. However, he "only" changed the position of the bolt-screw and provided it with a powerful and ergonomic lever for rotation. A trifle, it would seem, but no one else before him did this. Well, somehow it just didn't occur to me!
Major Patrick Ferguson.
So, what did Patrick Ferguson, a Scotsman who fought in North America in the ranks of the British Royal Army, come up with? The bolt of his rifle was a vertically located plug, screwed in from the bottom behind the breech of the barrel, and thus locked it. The handle that rotated this plug served as … a trigger guard and it was very convenient, since it had a considerable length, which allowed the shooter to apply great physical force to such an unusual bolt. The plug had a thread of 11 turns and with such a pitch that in one full revolution of the bracket it was completely unscrewed from its socket so that at the same time access to the barrel bore was opened. Then an ordinary round bullet of 16, 5-mm caliber was inserted into the chamber, then a powder charge was poured. A charge of gunpowder poured in a slightly larger volume than was required for a shot. But when the shutter was closed, its surplus was pushed out by it, so a precisely measured amount of it remained in the barrel.
Thus, the most important obturation problem for early types of breech-loading weapons was solved in the Ferguson rifle very simply and even elegantly - the barrel bore was closed at the back with a threaded plug, and in this case it served as an obturator. Moreover, the new thing was that the plug that locked the barrel was located vertically, since long before that samples of hand weapons and light cannons were used, in which it was screwed into the thread in the breech end horizontally. Subsequently, on the basis of this design, the so-called piston artillery gates with intermittent, sector threads both in the breech and on the piston bolt were born. But in the Ferguson system, the obturation problem was solved in a different, and even very ingenious way - a vertically located screw gate made it possible to combine the function of the thread as a locking device, and at the same time use it as an obturator. And this not only simplified the design of the rifle, but also made it quite technologically advanced for the level of the 18th century. But effective seals for horizontal piston valves, in particular the Bungee seals, appeared only in the 1860s, that is, almost a century later.
Outwardly, Ferguson's rifle was virtually indistinguishable from a conventional military flintlock rifle.
The rifle had a flintlock, usual for those years, similar to the standard lock of the British "Brown Bess" musket.
To make a shot, the shooter had to turn the trigger guard once and unscrew the threaded locking screw-plug, insert a bullet into the opened hole, which should then be pushed into the barrel, pour gunpowder into the chamber, then screw the bolt, put the trigger on the safety, pour on the shelf, and put the trigger on a combat platoon.
As tests have shown, a trained shooter from a Ferguson rifle could make seven aimed shots in one minute, which was an unattainable result for rifled guns of that time. In addition, he could reload it in any position, even in a lying position, while traditional threaded fittings could only be loaded while standing. The inventor himself, during tests for five minutes, fired from it at a rate of four shots per minute, and showed excellent accuracy: at a distance of 200 yards (approximately 180 meters), he missed only three times.
The appearance of the rifle from the side of the lock. The charging hole is clearly visible.
Considering that muzzle-loading rifles of those years gave about one shot in a few minutes (since the bullet had to be forcefully "hammered" into the barrel). Smoothbore guns in terms of rate of fire gave the best result, but even in the hands of the most experienced shooter, more than 6-7 shots, without aiming, could not be made of them in one minute.
The combination of such a high rate of fire and long range of a shot aroused interest even among the conservative British military. 100 rifles of the Ferguson design were ordered, with which a whole detachment of riflemen was armed, and given to him under command. He fought successfully, in particular at the Battle of Brandywine Creek, where the British commanded by General Howe utterly defeated the American militias, and suffered very little losses themselves. Legend claims that during this battle, Ferguson himself was caught by George Washington, but he, being a gentleman, never fired, since he stood with his back to him.
Bottom view of the rifle bolt.
However, since Ferguson was wounded at Brandywine Creek, the experienced squad was disbanded, and his rifles were sent for storage. Some of them, many years later, were involved in the state war between the North and South, and they were used by the militia of the southerners. But since Ferguson was killed in 1780, experiments with his rifles were no longer resumed.
Why did Ferguson's rifles never receive adequate distribution at that time, although their effectiveness was proven? The problem lay in the possibilities of mass production, then carried out by small firms using very primitive technologies. So, 100 rifles of an experimental batch were made by as many as four well-known arms firms, but it took more than 6 months. And the price for each rifle was several times higher than the cost of an ordinary rifle. That is, it was not suitable as a mass weapon for the army. Of course, if some army introduced a monochrome gray uniform, a civilian hat, with a minimum of all kinds of braids and sultans, then … yes - on all this it would be possible to completely save so much that would be enough for Ferguson's rifles and still would have remained to the solemn banquets on the occasion of the general rearmament. But … no one at that time could have come up with such an idea. Well, when it came to Alexander II's mind, many officers did not accept it and, not wanting to wear the "peasant uniform" introduced by him, they immediately resigned from the army. But it took a hundred years, and in the 18th century no one would even dare to think about it. In addition, one cannot fail to notice that for all its merits, it also had its own characteristic drawbacks. For example, she had a low strength of the wooden neck of the stock at the breech of the barrel. That is, it was impossible to fight with Ferguson's rifle like a club! Moreover, all of its surviving copies in this place have a metal amplifier installed during its operation in the army.
Therefore, a little later they decided to go the other way - to use bullets expanding in the barrel of the "Minier bullet" type. Such a technological solution at a certain stage gave a significant gain in increasing the range and flatness of shooting without complicating the traditional flintlock.
Instructions for working with a Ferguson rifle.
In addition, on the replicas of Ferguson's rifle, it was possible to establish that when firing, their "bolt" quickly became dirty and after 3-4 shots it was out of order. To prevent this from happening, the threads on it had to be lubricated with a mixture of beeswax and lard. True, then they nevertheless found the original technical documentation for this rifle, the replicas were brought into line with it, and then it turned out that the thread of the locking screw was chosen so well that the rifle could easily withstand 60 or more shots without cleaning and lubrication!
