Blunderbuss

The blunderbuss is a short, muzzle-loading firearm with a large-caliber, often flared or bell-shaped barrel, developed in the seventeenth century and remaining in common use through the early nineteenth century as a close-range defensive weapon for travelers, coach guards, sailors and household protection. Loaded with loose shot, nails or other scrap projectiles, the wide muzzle was long believed to spread its charge in a shotgun-like pattern, though its actual dispersal was closer to that of a conventional shotgun of the era, and the flared mouth mainly aided quick reloading, especially aboard a moving ship or carriage. Blunderbusses were issued to naval boarding parties and mail coach guards well into the 1800s, valued less for range or accuracy than for the intimidating bore and the reliability of hitting a close target such as a boarder coming over a ship's rail.