#Gardner
The First "Assault Weapon"? Forgotten Weapons and the Puckle Gun of 1718
The Puckle Gun is one of those firearms of which only a couple of examples exist in the world, but which is covered in a great deal of introductory firearms books, usually in their section on the history of machine guns.
Gatling's Marvelous Gun
Need a primer on the original manually-cranked Gatling gun? Of course you do, or you know someone who does. The Historical Firearms blog has what you need, with a lengthy post covering in modest detail the operation and history of the gun, from its origins as an improved “coffee mill” gun to its maturation as the premier manually-operated metallic-cartridge firing proto-machine gun: