A Brief History
On May 15, 1718, Englishman James Puckle patented his machine gun, the world’s first! You may have thought the Gatling gun or the Maxim machine gun was the first machine gun, but depending on how you define “machine gun” James Puckle, Esq. (yes, he was a lawyer) got there first.
Digging Deeper
Puckle’s invention was a flintlock, the form of firearm ignition at the top of technology of the time. It consisted of a single barrel and a cylinder pre-loaded with 11 separate firing chambers of a musket ball and powder charge in each. Puckle intended regular musket balls for use against Christians, while for fighting Muslims a different cylinder would be used to fire special cubical bullets, which he perceived as extra deadly.
The so called “Puckle Gun” was capable of firing 9 rounds per minute, pathetic by comparison to the 500 to 3000 rounds per minute of today’s machine guns, but not bad when compared to the 2 rounds per minute (3 rounds per minute only by the best musketeers) of musket wielding soldiers of the day.
Puckle intended his gun to be used aboard ships as defense against enemy sailors attempting to force a boarding. Although never mass produced and certainly not a commercial success, Puckle did manage to sell a few to john Montagu (later the Master-General of the Ordnance) for use in an expedition to capture St. Lucia and St. Vincent (islands in the Caribbean Sea). Montagu was a notorious practical joker although there is no evidence he bought the “machine guns” as a joke.
Unlike previous attempts at rapid fire guns, such as lining up many loaded barrels and firing them either all at once or one after the other, the Puckle Gun could be quickly loaded again and again by using pre-loaded cylinders. As with other efforts at rapid fire, firearms really were not suited to become machine guns until metallic case self-contained ammunition was invented.
Since Puckle’s invention did not really serve in any numbers or effectively and was not an evolutionary step in the progression of modern automatic weapons it is more of an historical curiosity rather than a milestone. There certainly are some extremely interesting firearms inventions throughout history, and the Puckle Gun is one of them. Question for students (and subscribers): Which ones do you find fascinating? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Lee, Sidney. James Puckle – First Inventor of the Machine Gun. Shamrock Eden Publishing, 2011.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2184 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2184">28 Comments
I am surprised that the Puckle Gun was not more popular at the time. The 9 rounds per minute seems like it would have been a much more attractive quality than it was. It is interesting how the use of this gun was catered mainly towards ships and not in land warfare at the time.
I was always interested in the origin of the machine gun. I agree with Emily that the intent for these guns was rather interesting because I would have thought that they were needed on land just as much as they were on ships. The evolution from 9 shots per round to 500 to 3000 today is also remarkable. The inventions that have been created for warfare is beyond impressive.
I found it interesting that the Puckle Gun had regular musket balls for use against Christians and had a different cylinder to fire special cubical bullets for when they were against the Muslims. They said it was perceived as extra deadly, but I wonder why they wouldn’t stick with using the most deadly option to begin with and stick with.
While the puckle gun may not compare to the plethora of guns we have now, 9 rounds per minute seems pretty good for its time.
As James Puckle was technically the first one to patent a machine gun, I wonder if there were other machine guns already invented before Puckle’s that were never necessarily patented. It is also crazy to think how much weaponry has improved since 1718. 9 to 3000 rounds per minute is a huge jump!
9 rounds per minute compared to 500 rounds per minute doesn’t seem very impressive. However, being the first of its kind is something of an honor. It is a wonder why Puckle’s gun didn’t reach more popularity.
James Puckle had a lot to be proud of for making a machine gun that fired 9 rounds per minute! I do wish guns were never invented though. Imagine how many problems in the past and during the present day not having guns would solve.
I think that while 3000 rounds diminishes the Puckle Gun’s mere 9 rounds, it doesn’t diminish the revolution of the technology. The Puckle Gun’s basic design and theory for quick rounds is what led to those bigger machine guns being created. It was definitely the first of its kind.
Puckle’s Gun is evolutionary and I do not see why John Montagu bought the machine gun for a joke. 9 rounds per minute in 1718 was three times what was possible. The machine gun would out fire any man on their feet. This gun is a ground breaking invention for the future and as time went on they made Puckle’s basic design a deadly firearm.
It is weird to think that such a seemingly modern weapon was first manufactured almost 300 years ago. While it may not have been a commercial success, the Puckle guy was a big step forward for weaponry.
The Puckle Gun was revolutionary for its time, yet was not appreciated as much as it should have been. The gun could have been widely distributed and used in warfare. An army armed with the Puckle Gun would have a huge advantage over an opponent.
The evolution of weapons over 300 years is incredible. I am against guns so part of me kind of wishes Puckle had never come up with the first machine gun. Since only a few of them were built, however, it would be interesting to see one of those weapons today and compare it to the modern guns.
Puckle’s machine gun may not have been the first, but it sure is a benchmark for what would be to come in the weaponry department. The growth of weapon development has played a huge role in warfare, and that started hundreds of years ago.
The comparison of 9 rounds per minute to the current 500 per minute is mind blowing. Technology has really grown over the years but as we can see it can be for the better or for the worse depending on your opinion.
The Puckle Gun might have not been a huge milestone but it was a step in a new direction. It shows that the machine gun went from nine rounds per minute to around 500 per minute today. this shows that over time it was perfected and has become very strong today. It is interesting that there was an intend to use different ammunition for different people.
I’ve never really been interested in any history pertaining to guns so I really don’t know anything about their invention or evolution over the years. I did find it comical how Puckle had certain bullets for muslims that he considered more deadly. If you’re using a gun you obviously want to kill the people you’re firing against so why wouldn’t you use the most deadly bullets on muslims and christians? Kind of strange.
Although it was not revolutionary, I’m sure it gave people the notion that more efficient firearms were on the horizon. Going from 2 rounds per minute to 9 rounds per minute to 500-3000 rounds today is incredible to think about. I can’t even begin to fathom how it will continue to evolve over the next couple hundred years.
Guns these days have come so far it’s amazing, 2 rounds/min to 9 rounds/min to now 500-3000 rounds/min is remarkable. And with technology only still improving you can imagine what kind of firearms may come next. Scary to think about obviously with how dangerous guns already are these days.
I’m surprised that this never became something more. It was never mass produced even though it seems to be steps above what was available at the time. Going from 2-3 rounds per minute to 9 rounds per minute seems as though it would have been a great help in any battle of the time. Although it doe not compare to the 500-3000 rounds you can get from a machine gun today, it should have gotten more recognition back then.
I bet that the Puckle Gun being able to be reloaded quickly by use of the preloaded cylinders was a major reason why the gun was so attractive. It is interesting that Puckle found the cubicle bullets to be used against Muslims as extra deadly, compared to the spherical bullets used against Christians. I have never heard of such a thought before.
It is amazing how far guns have come since times like these. It is pretty cool that Puckle was able to come up with something like this so long ago. I think it is crazy that he had two separate sets of bullets to be used against different people. I would love to see one of these guns today.
It is weird to me that Puckle had two different kinds of bullets to use against different people. I am curious as to why he wanted to use extra deadly bullets on the Muslims instead of on the Christians. It is crazy to see how far guns have come since then. I am surprised nothing more came from Puckle’s invention and was more of a historical curiosity than a milestone.
I’m shocked on how far we have come, but more so how well the guns were at that time. It had to have been so hard to also keep up with the maintenance of the weapons.
If the puckle gun could fire triple the amount of ammunition of a normal gun, why was it not a success?
I think it is really interesting to look at the layout and see what a difference time makes. Definitely better than lining up barrels.
It’s weird to me that with the efficiency of this new gun, that the demand was so low and never reached its potential. It is shocking to see how far the gun industry has come, from 9 rounds a minute and 500-3000 rounds a minute. It’ll be interesting to see the guns have a manufactured in the next decades to come.
The progression of guns has always amazed me. About 300 years ago the first machine gun was made. Now there are assault rifles, sniper rifles, etc.
I am still trying to wrap my brain around cubicle bullets. They just seem inferior due to aerodynamics but I can see how the sharp edges would be more deadly. It also is interesting that the Puckle Gun never caught on given its relative usefulness.