Production was highly limited and may have been as few as just two guns, one a crude prototype made of iron, the other a finished weapon made from brass. A leaflet of the period sarcastically observed of the venture that "they're only wounded who hold shares therein". As with other designs of the time it was hampered by "clumsy and undependable flintlock ignition" and other mechanical problems. The Puckle gun drew few investors and never achieved mass production or sales to the British armed forces. A rate of nine rounds per minute compared favourably to musketeers of the period, who could be expected to fire between two and five rounds per minute depending on the quality of the troops, with experienced troops expected to reliably manage three rounds a minute under fair conditions it was however inferior in fire rate to earlier repeating weapons such as the Kalthoff repeater which fired up to six times faster.
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At a later public trial held in 1722, a Puckle gun was able to fire 63 shots in seven minutes (approximately nine rounds per minute) in the midst of a driving rain storm. The gun was balanced well on the tripod and could be elevated or traversed by the operator to aim it.Ī prototype was shown in 1717 to Great Britain's Board of Ordnance, who were not impressed. Īll known examples of Puckle guns have a folding tripod mount. The cylinder appears to have been referred to as a "charger" in contemporary documentation. In this way it was similar to earlier breech-loading swivel guns with a detachable chamber which could be loaded prior to use. To reload, the crank handle could be unscrewed completely to detach the cylinder, which could then be replaced with a fresh one. The flintlock mechanism was then primed and the weapon fired by operating a long trigger lever which extended down to about the level of the operator's waist. The crank was then screwed tight again, locking the tapered end of the chamber into the barrel to form a gas-tight seal. Rotating the cylinder would cause a slot and stud mechanism to close the firing pan on the previous chamber and open the next ready to be primed. After each shot, a crank on the rear of the threaded shaft that ran through the cylinder would be turned, allowing the cylinder to be rotated by hand to the next chamber. The Puckle gun firing mechanism is similar to a conventional flintlock musket. The weapon was also reported as able to fire shot, with each discharge containing sixteen musket balls. They would, according to the patent, "convince the Turks of the benefits of Christian civilization". The square bullets were considered to be more damaging. Puckle demonstrated two configurations of the basic design: one, intended for use against Christian enemies, fired conventional round bullets, while the second, designed to be used against the Muslim Turks, fired square bullets. Lee remarked, however, that "James Puckle's patent in 1718 contains more rhetorical fervor than technical rigor." Two versions Īccording to the Patent Office of the United Kingdom, "In the reign of Queen Anne, the law officers of the Crown established as a condition of grant that 'the patentee must by an instrument in writing describe and ascertain the nature of the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.'" This gun's patent, number 418 of 1718, was one of the first to provide such a description. The cylinder held 6 to 11 shots depending on configuration, and was hand-loaded with powder and shot while detached from the weapon.
The barrel was 3 feet (0.91 m) long with a bore of 1.25 inches (32 mm). The Puckle gun is a tripod-mounted, single-barreled flintlock weapon fitted with a manually operated revolving cylinder Puckle advertised its main application as an anti- boarding gun for use on ships. Gun Puns Don't shoot! We'll let you read all our gun puns, we swear! The best gun puns online! Our gun puns include shotgun puns, rifle puns, cannon puns, rocket puns and many more.James Puckle (1667–1724), English inventor, lawyer and writer, patented the Puckle gun in 1718.
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