Ferguson Rifle

The Ferguson rifle was a breech-loading rifle designed by British officer Patrick Ferguson, one of the first breech-loaders issued to any army, entering British service in 1776 with only about 200 made between 1776 and 1778. Its breech opened by turning the trigger guard, which acted as a crank on a tapered eleven-thread screw, letting a soldier load from the rear and fire some six to eight rounds a minute, far faster than a muzzle-loading musket. It fought in the American Revolutionary War, most notably at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 where Ferguson himself was wounded, but its high cost and slow production, roughly four times that of an ordinary musket, kept it from ever becoming standard issue.