While various old accounts often list the blunderbuss as being loaded with various scrap iron, rocks, or wood, resulting in damage to the bore of the gun, it was typically loaded with a number of lead balls smaller than the bore diameter. The blunderbuss could be considered an early shotgun, and served in similar roles. One source, describing arms from the early to middle 17th century, lists the barrel length of a wheel lock dragon at around 28 cm (11 in), compared to a 41 cm (16 in) length for a blunderbuss. īlunderbusses were typically short, with barrels under 60 centimetres (2 ft) in length, at a time when a typical musket barrel was over 90 cm (3 ft) long. The muzzle (and often the bore) was flared with the intent not only to increase the spread of the shot, but also to funnel powder and shot into the weapon, making it easier to reload on horseback or on a moving carriage modern experiments corroborated the dramatic improvement in shot spread, going from a 530-millimetre-spread (21-inch) diameter from a straight barrel to an average of 970 mm (38 in) spread at 9 metres (10 yards). The flared muzzle is the defining feature of the blunderbuss, differentiating it from large caliber carbines the distinction between the blunderbuss and the musketoon is less distinct, as musketoons were also used to fire shot, and some had flared barrels. Musketoon, blunderbuss and coach gun from the American Civil War era.
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