Ferguson Rifle

I know this appears to be a crude firearm drawing of mine. Of all the firearms I decide to tackle at the moment, I choose an old piece of shit, eh? Well, let's just say I have my reasons.

The Ferguson Rifle is supposedly the world's first breech-loading rifle, the first to be adopted by any known organized military force. In this case....the British Empire. Major Patrick Ferguson was the rifle's designer, and he would receive an English patent in December 1776. During the same year, Major Ferguson would test his new creation....resulting in a range of 250 yards, which would be 5x more than a musket. And if that's not enough, the Ferguson Rifle, utilizing its new breech-loading system, enabled the shooter to fire almost as high as 10 rounds per minute.

Unfortunately, the Ferguson Rifle wouldn't be a success even for the light-infantry concept. As it turns out, the Ferguson Rifle was expensive, and even difficult, to produce even during the pre-Industrial Revolution. Apparently, the Ferguson Rifle would also be subject to breaking down easily, requiring repair....not to mention that after about 3-4 shots the rifle would require cleaning lest there be foul-up.

I think in the end Major Ferguson was way ahead of his time. He had his own unit that used his rifle, but after taking an injury during the Battle of Brandywine and while recuperating, the unit would be disbanded. This rifle would eventually be replaced by the Brown Bess musket. Surviving copies of "This Barbarous Weapon" would be placed in storage somewhere in New York. Today, however, there are replicas here and there.

History aside, to compensate for the lack of detail to the rifle, I threw in some small details, such as the .69 caliber round, and the method of how to reload. To reload, the trigger-guard would be unscrewed, then you put the ball in and fill it up with gunpowder.....or something; I don't know exactly how the reloading process of blackpowder firearms works.