Puckle Gun - Definition and Overview

In 1718 in London, England, lawyer James Puckle demonstrated his new invention, the Puckle Gun, a tripod-mounted, single-barreled flintlock weapon using a revolving cylinder. Using a standard flintlock weapon, a soldier could be expected to fire three times per minute; the Puckle gun could fire up to nine shots per minute.

Puckle developed two versions of the basic design. For Christian enemies, he felt that the standard round bullets would be the best ammunition. However, when facing Muslim Turks, he thought that square bullets (which would cause larger, more painful wounds, in his opinion) would be more suitable.

Mr. Puckle could not attract investors to his weapon, he never mass-produced it, nor did he manage to sell this weapon to the British military.