Ricky Roberts and Bryan Brown are two historical reenactors and amateur historians with a bit of a bug for the firelocks and an itch for Patrick Ferguson’s Breech loading Ordinance Rifle specifically.  In an era when most other arms loaded from the muzzle and smoothbore arms were in the vast majority Patrick Ferguson developed what is in our opinion the ultimate pre cartridge firearm, certainly the coolest flintlock era weapon. 

Ricky is no novice at this; he has been reenacting and shooting black powder since the 1970s and is a former member of the US International Muzzle Loading team and has represented the US at many international competitions shooting anything from a Matchlock, through a Cap lock both in long arms and pistols.  He is a member of the New Acquisition Militia, The Widow makers, Hesse Kassel Jaeger Korps, American Long Rifle Association, The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, and National Rifle Association, a regular attendee of the NMLRA Friendship shoots and is a retired US Postal Worker.*

 

At one point in his research Ricky got pointed to Bryan Brown when they were both at the Battle of Huck’s Defeat at Brattonsville SC, on opposite sides.  Ricky portrays a Rebel/Patriot Rifleman with the New Acquisition Militia, and Bryan is a founding member of the Hesse Kassel Jaeger Korps a Crown/British forces Rifle unit brought over to hunt American Riflemen. Now they had been shooting at each other for years but they had not crossed paths socially as of yet. 

Bryan has been a reenactor since 1977 having reenacted a variety of periods both in the US and in Europe. Prior to helping to found the Hesse Kassel Jaeger Korps in 1995 he spent 6 years with the 71st Regiment of Highland Foote out of Maryland where he first began seriously digging into Ferguson and his Rifle. Bryan is also an armourer and gunsmith having built and taught others to build hundreds of black powder arms and other hand held weapons since the early 1980s.  He “has something of a penchant for building oddball arms” and has a decent library of historical arms related resources.  He is a member of the The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, and National Rifle Association, the Honourable Company of Horners, the American Long Rifles, the Company of Military Historians, and various less formal groups of period gunsmiths and armourers and is a regular attendee of Chuck Dixon’s Custom Muzzle Loading Faire in Kempton PA. Bryan works for IBM when he isn’t reenacting.

*Nock Volley Gun on loan from Steve Doyle aka McJaeger
Hesse Kassel Jaeger Korps.