The Ferguson Rifle

As many people here will know the Ferguson Rifle was an early breech loading rifle used in small numbers during the American War of Independence. It was the brainchild of Major Patrick Ferguson who fought and was killed in the ARW.

The rifle itself was only produced in small numbers, about a hundred, and probably has had a bigger impact in fiction than in real life. The main causes for it's failure being that it was expensive and difficult to produce compared with contempary weapons like the Brown Bess, and it was less sturdy in action. These factors combined with Ferguson's death led the rifle to dissappear from use before the end of the ARW.

However what it Patrick Ferguson was not killed in 1780 but survived the war and continued as both an officer and a rifle designer?

While the Ferguson Rifle won't make much of an impact on events of the ARW, (unless some important historical figure is shot by one and that's outside the remit of this thread), but presumably Ferguson will keep working on the thing and eventually price will go down and reliability go up. Perhap even enough for it to be used by British light infantry in the Napoleanic Wars, maybe even replacing the Baker Rifle.

Perhaps the greatest effect of an even reasonably successful Ferguson Rifle would be on British military thinking about breechloaders. In OTL the British Army didn't get a breech loading rifle until the Snider-Enfield of 1868, but perhaps seeing the effect of even the flawed Ferguson system will spur the British to look into and develop a more reliable weapon of another design during the first half of the 19th century?
 

archaeogeek

Banned
To make price go down and reliability go up you need industrial processes which are dependent on machine tools and will not be around for decades.
 
Search function to the rescue!

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=153292&highlight=Ferguson+Rifle

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=166932&highlight=Ferguson+Rifle

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=135552&highlight=Ferguson+Rifle

Anyways one of the threads shows my own opinion on the subject, namely that the Ferguson was a developmental dead-end and impractical for military use due to cost and fouling issues (which is why it wasn't adopted in OTL). Thusly I have come to the conclusion that if you really want to introduce breach loading rifles earlier you'll need a POD that substantially speeds up the Industrial Revolution and the processes of standardization and precision work which are IMO absolute necessities to allow for the proliferation of breachloading arms.
 

Thande

Donor
Perhaps the greatest effect of an even reasonably successful Ferguson Rifle would be on British military thinking about breechloaders. In OTL the British Army didn't get a breech loading rifle until the Snider-Enfield of 1868, but perhaps seeing the effect of even the flawed Ferguson system will spur the British to look into and develop a more reliable weapon of another design during the first half of the 19th century?

Never underestimate the ability of the British Army to push aside any attempts at innovation. Especially in the 19th century.

I did have them adopt rifles and breechloaders from America (not exactly the same as the Ferguson, because early POD) in my timeline earlier on, but that required a top-down purge of Horse Guards.
 
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