Talk:Ferguson rifle

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Changed history[edit]

How the Ferguson rifle nearly changed history.

Note: I came across this today on the Empire:Total War forums. If it can be validated, it would seem to need inclusion.

" The primary weapon of Europe’s various foot soldiers was basically a sort of universal musket. Archetypical was the English sidelock .78 caliber piece known as the Brown Bess. It first saw action around 1703 and was copied all around the world. The muskets used by the colonies during the American Revolution were basically replicas of the Brown Bess. At short ranges it was an effective weapon. It was possible to hit a foot-square target at 40 yards almost every time. Beyond this range results deteriorated quickly. Colonel Hanger, a British officer, wrote in 1814 that “as for firing at a man at 200 yards with a common musket (like the Brown Bess), you might just as well fire at the moon.”

Although commanders realized how inaccurate their men’s guns were, they didn’t spend much time worrying about it (only a few skeptics like Colonel Hanger cared to question this). One persistent individual nearly changed this. Major Patrick Ferguson was fascinated by firearms and an inveterate thinker – a combination that led him to produce a breech-loading rifle so apparently lethal that even the hierarchy of the British army could not ignore it, at least initially. The gun was ready in June 1776, and tests were conducted before Lord Townsend, the master of the general of ordnance, and Lord Amherst, the army’s commander-in-chief. The results were astonishing. Ferguson kept up a steady rate of four shots per minute for over five minutes, missing a target 200 yards away only three times – all of this without misfires despite a steady rain. Characteristically, British authorities were attracted to the gun’s rapidity of fire, not its accuracy. The crisis in North America was reaching the boiling point, and the army required every bit of firepower it could muster. The master of ordnance ordered 100 of Ferguson’s breech-loaders to be manufactured, while Ferguson was ordered to form and train a special corps of riflemen.

On September 11, 1777, Ferguson’s rifles had their first and only combat test at Brandywine Creek, where the British caught George Washington trying to cross at Chadd’s Ford. Ferguson and his tine rifle corps repeatedly flanked larger bodies of Americans, subjecting them to lethally accurate fire. In return, they took few casualties, since they were able to fire on the move and from a prone position, neither of which was possible with a muzzle-loader (muskets used by the Americans like the Brown Bess). Infantry tactics over a century in the making were wrenched in new directions in the space of minutes by Ferguson’s gun.

At one point an opposing officer rode within Ferguson’s range, thinking himself immune from normal musket fire. “I could have lodged a half dozen balls in or about him”, wrote Ferguson. It was George Washington, and a less chivalrous rifleman might have crippled the American Revolution with a pull of the trigger. Ferguson himself was not so lucky. In the process of extricating his men from an untenable position, the major had his right elbow shattered by an American ball. He would eventually recover, but the shot proved fatal to his gun. During his convalescence, British commanding general Howe took the opportunity to disband and disarm his rifle corps. The guns were packed up and placed in storage for good." --Phil Wardle (talk) 21:27, 24 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wording[edit]

The third paragraph under details seems poorly worded. I might be wrong, but I thought this was incorrect. It reads like someone was arguing a point, complete with rhetorical questioning. This might be a remnant of past edits. The section in question is:

"This was in no way due to "excessive losses" or any political machinations. The unit was an experiment; the men were always slated to return to their original units. If the unit was a failure as reported by some historians[who?], why was Ferguson successful in getting General Clinton to agree to double the size of his experimental corps?" 216.121.200.209 (talk) 20:44, 23 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Seriously, were it not for the fact Ferguson is 200 years dead I'd swear he edited this in himself. 155.143.112.133 (talk) 13:30, 1 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

in popular culture[edit]

prehaps some mention should be made of the first novel in the honor Harrington series,"At Basilisk Station", where a variant of the Ferguson Rifle is given to bronze-age aliens 174.130.29.16 (talk) 20:35, 19 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

handy links[edit]

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