gun porn?

 

1. I think you will find that the puckle fired round rounds for christians and square ones
   for turks. Just to clear that up.

   Posted by vc-charlie       06/19/2011  at  09:51 AM  



2. The gun is actually a small cannon; it’s a 2 gauge or a 2 bore. Round lead balls would weigh half a pound. I doubt if any Turks could notice the difference between round and square after being hit with a bullet not much smaller than a golf ball.

   Puckle seems to have left the firing mechanism off of his patent, but the real ones used a flintlock striker mounted on a top plate. Re-priming that between shots would be the main thing responsible for it’s rather slow rate of fire.

   So can I take it that you’ve actually seen one of these things? Wiki says there is a reproduction one at the Bucklers Hard Maritime Museum in Beaulieu in the New Forest. Looks like that’s perhaps an hour’s drive from your place, perhaps less. Granted that that museum looks exquisitely dull.

   http://www.defenceoftherealm.co.uk/attractions_newforest.aspx

   Posted by Drew458       06/19/2011  at  12:04 PM  



3. Maybe the square held more pig fat!!!!

   Posted by Chris Edwards       06/19/2011  at  12:36 PM  



4. Puckle’s own patent submission stated, as I recall, square rounds for use against the “heathen Turks,” which adds just so much more depth to the story and character of Mr. Puckle. One wonders whether the advancement of the science of firearms or his own religious zealotry was the greater cause for James Puckle.

   Also, as gun patents go, William Drummond, a Scot, has the earliest “machine gun” patent on record, that I know of. It was basically a Gatling design with 50 barrels and a hand crank, but it would fire volleys of rounds from several barrels instead of one round at a time as the barrels moved past the top. He was awarded a patent for his design in 1628, although the design and details are vague and incomplete. I haven’t seen any drawings of this design, and the records don’t go into much detail. In fact Drummond never built this weapon that I am aware of. But it is interesting how far back the idea of a machine gun really goes. I am sure people came up with similar ideas long before even Drummond did, but so far as I am aware his was the first patent for such an idea.

   Great post. I love gun history, thanks for sharing!

   Risk

   PS~ I can’t find a web source for info about Drummond’s gun, but in hard print John Ellis’ “The Social History of the Machine Gun” has the info and it’s a compelling read, as well.

   Posted by Risk       06/19/2011  at  04:55 PM  



5. VC Charlie .... Thanks much for bringing that to light.  My fault ... poor proof reading.
   It’s now corrected.

   Posted by peiper       06/20/2011  at  05:18 AM  

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.