James Puckle Machine Gun 1718: The Bizarre Logic of Square Bullets

Round bullets for Christian friends, square ones for the 'infidels.' It's a dark chapter in engineering history that marks the birth of rapid-fire weaponry.

The Origins of the James Puckle Machine Gun 1718

According to reports from Boing Boing, in 1718, British inventor James Puckle patented a tripod-mounted weapon that's widely considered the 1stmachine gun in history. It wasn't an automatic weapon in the modern sense; instead, it was a hand-cranked flintlock with a revolving cylinder. Interestingly, a shipping manifest from 1722 explicitly referred to it as a 'machine gun,' proving its conceptual status long before the Gatling or Maxim guns appeared.

Square Bullets as Theological Warfare

The most controversial feature of Puckle's design was the use of square bullets. Puckle intended these to be fired specifically at the Ottoman Turks to 'convince' them of the power of Christian civilization. The logic was that square projectiles would cause significantly more painful and irregular wounds than round ones. While the gun's mechanical complexity ultimately prevented mass production, it remains a stark example of how early technology was often intertwined with deep-seated religious and social prejudices.