Ferguson Rifle

[Zonie]

Your right. South Carolina it is.
Sorry about that.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Dave..
About 2/3 through my build.. barrel has gone down to the Birmingham proof house and been passed!

Couple of questions for you...

Did you drill a hole right through for the rear sling swivel post so you can get it out?

Did you case harden the lever or just the lock parts (or did you just quench them..?) My muffle furnace is a bit tight to fit in the underlever..!

Just about to fit the barrel pins.. any tips?
FtC

Hi Felix,
Sorry I did not get back to you sooner. The rear swivel mount is permanent. The mortice does not have an exit so once in place, it cannot be removed just like the originals. I did not case harden the trigger guard or screw plug. That would risk warping the guard during quench and it not needed. For fitting the barrel keys (pins) I have photos of the process when I built an English fowler. The first step is accurately marking the location of the slot on the side of the stock. This is best done when the stock is still squared but most excess trimmed off. The photo below shows the guidelines around a cut slot.

Mark it out on both sides of the stock. Then drill three holes in a line from each side to the middle of the stock. The holes should be a little smaller than the width of the barrel key. Then I use 2 tools shown below to cut out the excess wood between the holes.

One is an X-acto knife handle holding a broken fret saw blade. I grind the tip to a point and place it in the handle to cut on the pull stroke. I insert it into the hole and cut away. In no time you will clear away the web of wood. I do that from both sides. Then I use the little chisel I made from a flat needle file. The front edge is sharpened like a skew chisel. I tap it in to clean up the slot and use the file sides to widen the slot if needed.
Then I heat the barrel key to a temper blue color and with pliers, insert it into the slot from the side I intend to insert the keys. On British guns keys are always inserted from the side opposite the locks. Insert the key and let it burn its way through. Do not rock or wiggle it.

After scraping away the charred wood on the surface, you should have a perfect slot.

dave

 

[Felix the Cat]

A belated thanks for this...

I have finally finished the build, and the Ferguson has received its birth of fire.. I did not clean out or grease the plug enough, so got a face full of grit on the first shot, but settled down well thereon in! Very sparky lock and seems (so far!) to be a reliable shooter. Only shooting at short range at the moment, but hope to get the sights lined up for the Spring...

I have a guy in UK making a sling for me.. I will post a report when it arrives!

There are now at least two Fergusons in existence in Edinburgh now.. one in the Castle and one in my armoury!

 

[Pete G]

Nice work.

 

[SingleMalt]

Good job, Felix.

 

[dave_person]

Nice rifle, Felix,
It is fun to shoot. When loading, I always feel like I am missing a step it is so fast. The beeswax and crisco or beeswax and tallow lubrication is the trick to keeping the rifle firing without jamming. Immerse the plug in the melted mixture and let it sit for a few minutes with heat still under the wax mixture. Then before the wax congeals, screw the warm plug into the gun which will spread a thin coat of wax on all the threads. The other trick is to avoid spilling loose powder in the threads above the chamber while loading. The threads are tapered and it is those top threads that make the seal and are most affected by powder fouling. I personally get off about 30 rounds without the screw plug needing any cleaning. Others, like Bryan Brown and Ricky Roberts claim to shoot 60-70 rounds without cleaning. I think condition such as cold and humidity effect those results. Also Felix, I use Swiss 3F powder, which burns hot and powerful. The powder chamber behind a 0.648 caliber ball can only take 50-55 grains of powder so I use the best, most powerful stuff. Bryan Brown suggests the proper ball historically is the standard 0.615 carbine round and I accept that as likely. Unfortunately, I can get no accuracy at all with that small a ball. I have yet to try something between a 0.648 and 0.615 but I have fine accuracy with the 0.648. Eventually, I am going to bore out the powder chamber to the same dimensions shown in Ferguson's patent so I can load 60-65 grains of powder that remain loose in the chamber.

dave

 

[Felix the Cat]

Thank you for the feedback.. I am using a .615 ball at present, dipped in beeswax (from my bees!). Not shot enough to come to a conclusion regarding accuracy. I am intending to sit down tomorrow and concentrate..
I am also using Swiss FFF however my chamber is taking around 73gn, which is what the Proof house has proved it to..