Britsh Officer invented a Breech loading 26 years before the Baker Rifle was adopted. An oft used phrase is that the Rifle is slow to load. Yet this Rifle could fire 7 shots per minute. Truly ahead of its time and I'm gobsmacked it wasn't devolped further at the time
https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/12/patrick-ferguson-and-his-rifle/
Sorry @john fortune, I’m on a spectrum and quite literal, so have real problems with irony! Ammunition natures remained with Ordnance I believe. For firearms there was indeed control, I remember touring the Pattern Room and seeing the wax seals when it was at ROF Nottingham. The volunteers, yeomanry and locally raised forces seemed under fewer restrictions, as long as it was of serious type.