SilverbladeTE wrote:Just wondering if RFC or anyone had actually heard of or maybe asked someone to build a modified Ferguson Rifle, the St Klymahn's, as in the novels?
Lot of black powder, firearm, crafter, re-enactor fans might be interested in such?
From the sound of it, it shouldn't be that hard to build considering modern day machining for the threads.
Kind of imagined the "cut away" breech plug and receiver would look like the cartridge ramp on a Martini-Henry
And who's brain child is it: RFC's?
Cause it's a bloody awesome way around the breech loading problems for percussion weapons and fixes the problems of the Ferguson Rifle!
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Departure from gun as used in novels:
With such a system you'd really want to use something other than a Civil War era "cartridge", which is just convenient powder/bullet/wad combination
You'd want instead an actual "cartridge" made of waxed, nitre impregnated paper and bullet, you can push in as one single piece. I think such is possible, but will leave it to experts
All depends on how the cartridge ramp can work with feeding
Either as said like Martini-Henry....which might be too curved for a fragile(ish) paper cartridge, danger of kinking the waxed paper cartridge
Or
You could maybe build the receiver coming down at greater angle so cartridge feed is almost straight in, bit like Remington Rollingblock?
That could be an easy change for Harchong etc to improve their weapons without much change?
Maybe rebore barrel to make a "cartridge" pocket just as with metallic cartridge?
RFC is a firearms enthusiast (which sounds much better than 'gun nut' since it lacks all of the negative connotations), too.
When the St Klymahn was introduced, he mentioned that he'd actually fired a replica Ferguson. Ferguson met his end at King's Mountain- which is up in RFC's general neck of the woods.
There already ARE Ferguson replicas out there. They are fairly rare- and expensive- but they are out there. It's too fiddly of a design for mass production on the replica market and really doesn't have a big enough market to draw the attentions of any of the Italian firms that specialize in replica firearms. You are going to have to dive into historic reenactments and historically accurate replica firearms to locate one that's for sale or a builder willing to make one.
Of course, when you get that deep, you will find that there's someone out there somewhere that will build pretty much any of the odd or esoteric dead end designs. All it takes is time and money- and lots of both.
Personally, I'm just one lotto win away from a Puckle Gun and a Nock Volley Gun. Maybe a set of Egg duelers, too. I like Egg's stock designs better than Manton.
A full cartridge conversion of a Ferguson would be problematical.
First, how do you extract and/or eject the empty?
Extractors pull the spent cartridge at least partially out of the chamber. Ejectors send it clear of the gun completely. Modern self loading arms use both- a claw to pull it clear and some sort of rod or stop on one side of the action that flip the empty out the port. Single shot or double barrel designs usually have one part that is used in either role.
Attaching an extractor to the breech face, as is often done, isn't going to work. The motion isn't right A shotgun style extractor or ejector- most likely on the bottom side of the barrel that activates as the top of the breech plug clears the bottom of the chamber mouth- would probably be the way to go.
The breechplug would have to be redesigned not only to provide the clearance needed to load a complete cartridge but you would have to include a firing pin and some sort of transfer system to translate the sidehammer's fall into the firing pin striking the primer.
That's a whole lot going on in a very small piece AND it still has to seal the rear of the chamber- while being sturdy enough to withstanding the pressures of firing as the breech face- AND it MUST align correctly- within some pretty tight tolerances- every time to insure reliable function. If anything, the interrupted linkages of the transfer system means that it must rotate every time in even a smaller window of tolerances than the original flint lock version.
A conversion to percussion lock while using paper cartridges wouldn't be as bad.
A little milling on the top of the breechplug to form a feed ramp and a change of locks should do the trick. Without one to examine, I don't know if it could be a full fledged ramp like the Roller you mentioned or something more spoon shaped like the ladle or feed ramp of the King's Patent loading gate of the Winchester lever action rifles.
There's already a chamber of sorts cut into the breech end of the chamber. After all, there has to be some way to keep the ball from just rolling out the muzzle. Since it's a rifle, the chamber is gong to be smooth bore and slightly over sized. That chamber can be recut at need if the original bore diameter is kept or the barrel can be sleeved to a reduced bore diameter with the new chamber integral to the sleeve.
