#otdh

The Ferguson Rifle

Today is the 240th anniversary of the Battle of King's Mountain and the death of Major Patrick Ferguson. Ferguson is best known as the man behind the fascinating breech-loading rifle. 

Maj. Ferguson was killed while commanding a significant force of Loyalist militia which was surrounded on King's Mountain by a superior American force. A career soldier and highly trained light infantry officer, Ferguson was only 36.

Ferguson was a firearms enthusiast and professional soldier. He became a proponent of breech loading firearms and refined pre-existing screw plug breech designs in the mid 1770s. 

In the photo above we can see the threads cut into a breech plug which rose into the rear of the rifle's barrel. The interrupted thread allowed the plug to rise and fall with just one rotation of the lever/trigger guard.

Ferguson demonstrated his rifle for senior officers in April 1776. He fired at targets at 80, 100 and 120 yards away and “put five good shots into a target in the space of a minute.” A special rifle unit was formed and embarked for the American colonies the summer of 1777. Ferguson and his men took part in the Philadelphia campaign and performed well at the Battle of Brandywine, however, Ferguson was badly wounded and the unit was eventually split up while he recovered. 

When Ferguson returned to service he led a number of small raiding expeditions and eventually was given command of the Loyalist forces in the Carolinas. On 7 October 1780 Ferguson was killed at King's Mountain & further development/use of his rifle died with him. 

Photo Analysis: Battle of the Bulge

Today marks 76th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Above is US Army Signal Corps photo taken in late December 1944, during the battle. 

The atmospheric shot features Pvt. Roy McDaniels, of Hartford City, Indiana, he is keeping watch for enemy activity from a machine gun position at a 30th Division observation post in Stavelot, Belgium. Pvt. McDaniels was a member of the 1st Battalion, 117th Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. 

An M1917 with accoutrements (Rock Island Auction Co.)

There are a host of interesting elements to this photo to pick out. In the centre of the photo we have a Browning M1917 water-cooled machine gun with its tripod mounted on a table and what appears to be another small table or a door. It appears a block of wood has been nailed to the table/door for the rear leg of the tripod to butt up against. To the right of the M1917 is an M1 Carbine with a magazine pouch on its buttstock. Next to it is a lit cigarette and a handful of coins.

Below the tripod are three M1 Garand en bloc clips and a small pair of binoculars. In the background is the gun’s condensing can with the condensing hose not in the water jacket but sat below the tripod. The gun’s belt has been partially used with a significant length drooping from the right side of the gun.

Pvt. McDanniels has an M4 bayonet for his carbine and has his entrenching tool handing from his belt. On the far left of the photo we can see a small alarm clock, showing a time of 12:15, with some more Garand en bloc clips behind it.

Image Source

Mason’s 1865 Swing-Out Cylinder

We commonly think of swing-out cylinder revolvers being a development of the late 19th century with the Colt Model 1889 being one of the first commercially available. Prior to this loading gates and top-break actions had been more common in metallic cartridge revolvers, while percussion pistols necessitated the complete removal of the cylinder to reload. 

William Mason is perhaps better known for his collaboration with Charles Richards on the 1870 Mason-Richards cartridge conversion, that allowed percussion revolvers to be converted to use metallic cartridges, and the Colt 1873 Single Action Army. 

Before Mason had joined Colt, as their superintendent in 1866, however, he had patented an innovative swing-out cylinder in 1865 (granted 21 November, 1865). At the time Mason was still working with Remington, whom he had been an apprentice with and learnt his trade. As such the design was patented in Mason’s name and assigned to Remington. 

In the patent Mason explains that the frame could be opened “laterally to eject the empty cases or to reload the arm.” Signalling that the swing-out cylinder was designed for use with rimfire cartridges which were becoming more popular. The patent shows a revolver with a cylinder, axis rod and cylinder frame hinged on a pin in the base of the revolver’s frame. The patent doesn’t state which direction the cylinder swung, Colt and Smith & Wesson historically later opted for swinging left. The patent makes no mention of an extraction or ejection method.

Remington had enjoyed success with the Model 1858, which the revolver in the patent bears some resemblance to, but by the 1870s had lost ground to Colt, Smith & Wesson and other manufacturers. While they offered a cartridge conversion of the Model 1858 they did not opt to use Mason’s hinged cylinder design. It would be another 20 years before the Colt Model 1889, one of the last guns Mason worked on before he left Colt for Winchester, was introduced with a swing-out cylinder. 

Sources:

‘Improvement in Revolving Fire-arms’, W. Mason, US #51117, 21/11/1865, (source)

Browning Prototypes

John Browning was born 162 years ago today, in 1855. Above are some of the great man’s designs which for one reason or another were never put into production. These include a gas operated pistol and a pump action military rifle. Browning developed and patented hundreds of ideas many of which are little know today. This is an ongoing series and I’ll cover more of Browning prototypes soon!

Over the years I've written about many of Browning’s designs you can find all posts about him here. 

You won't see Christmas if you carry on this way,

Know it's ok that you don't feel ok.

As your heavy heart stumbles on ice,

I'll be your amateur shrink for just another night.

50 Years Ago: MLK’s Death and the D.C. Uprising

Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while visiting Memphis in support of striking sanitation workers.  King’s death rippled throughout urban America with riots in Baltimore, Chicago and Kansas City. However, the civil strife in Washington, D.C. lasted from April 4-8, leaving 13 people dead, nearly 1,200 buildings destroyed, and tens of millions of dollars in damage. The…