thumb|upright=1.4|A [[flintlock blunderbuss, built for Tipu Sultan]]

The blunderbuss is a Seventeenth- to mid-Nineteenth-century muzzleloading firearm with a short, large caliber, smoothbore barrel. The blunderbuss is flared at the muzzle to aid the loading of shot, which usually consisted of a dozen or so projectiles between and caliber. The blunderbuss could also be fired with other types of projectiles such as slugs and improvised projectiles like nails, rocks, glass, or tightly packed metal rods called "bundle shot." The blunderbuss is considered to be an early predecessor of the modern shotgun. It was effective only at short range, lacking accuracy at long distances. A blunderbuss in handgun form was called a dragon, and it is from this that the term dragoon evolved.

Etymology

alt=|thumb|An English flintlock blunderbuss

The term "blunderbuss" is of Dutch origin, from the Dutch word donderbus, which is a combination of donder, meaning "thunder", and bus, meaning "container, tin" (Middle Dutch: busse, box, jar, from Latin buxus, box tree). While the flintlock blunderbuss wasn't developed until the 17th century, the concept of the blunderbuss dates back to at least Germany in the mid-16th century, early examples of blunderbuss were either matchlock or wheellock firearms. The blunderbuss appears to have spread from Germany to Holland by the late 1500s, the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, Netherlands has a matchlock blunderbuss that is dated to around 1600, with contemporary reports it may have been used in a battle at Zuiderzee in 1573. An inventor from Echten, The Netherlands named Henrick Theilmans was granted a patent on October 26, 1598 for a type of gun called the "Donderbus" (Dutch for "blunderbuss"), a gun that was intended for use on land or sea that was capable of firing of shot at a distance of approximately 500 paces, or about . many depictions of early Pilgrims in popular media in the early to mid-20th century incorrectly showed Pilgrims armed with flintlock blunderbusses. This was especially true of depictions of the First Thanksgiving, comics and cartoons, such as Disney's Daffy Duck and Porky Pig incorrectly depict the Pilgrims using blunderbusses. By the mid-1850s the invention of the paper cartridge allowed both barrels of a percussion cap shotgun to be loaded far more rapidly than a blunderbuss' single barrel, this made the blunderbuss fall out of favor even more quickly; and by 1870 the prevalence of short, inexpensive double-barreled shotguns and the advent of the centerfire metallic shotgun cartridge made the blunderbuss completely obsolete and extinct.

The muzzle (and often the bore) was flared. The flare was to aid in reloading, the flare did not spread the shot. Modern experiments corroborated the dramatic improvement in shot spread, from a diameter from a straight barrel to an average of spread at . However, the methodology and conclusions of these tests have been questioned.

Blunderbusses were typically short, with barrels under in length, at a time when a typical musket barrel was over long. One source, describing arms from the early to middle 17th century, lists the barrel length of a wheel lock dragon at around , compared to a length for a blunderbuss.

Blunderbusses were also commonly carried by officers on naval warships, by privateers and by pirates for use in close-quarters boarding actions. The Portuguese Marines used it widely in the 17th century.

The blunderbuss used by the British Royal Mail during the period of 1788–1816 was a flintlock with a long flared brass barrel, brass trigger guard, and an iron trigger and lock. A typical British mail coach would have a single postal employee on board, armed with a blunderbuss and a pair of pistols to guard the mail from highwaymen.

One 18th century coaching blunderbuss in another British collection had a brass barrel long, flaring to at the muzzle; it was also provided with a spring-loaded bayonet, which was held along the barrel by a catch and would spring forward into place when released.

Military adoption

While the blunderbuss is often associated with the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims of 1620, evidence suggests that the blunderbuss was relatively scarce in the American colonies. After the Battle of Lexington in 1775, British General Thomas Gage occupied Boston, Massachusetts, and upon negotiating with the town committee, Gage agreed to let the inhabitants of Boston leave town with their families and effects if they surrendered all arms. While most of the residents of Boston stayed, those who left under the agreement surrendered 1,778 long arms, 634 pistols, 273 bayonets, and only 38 blunderbusses. The blunderbuss did still have its civilian applications, however; the Lewis and Clark Expedition carried a number of blunderbusses, some of which were mounted and used as small swivel guns on the pirogues. The M1814 Blunderbuss was manufactured at Harpers Ferry, Springfield Armory and also in Canton, Massachusetts. During the 1830s these were converted from flintlock to cap and ball. American inventor and naval officer John A. Dahlgren designed a brass swivel gun blunderbuss during the 1840s for the fighting top of ships of the line such as USS Constitution.

Although considered obsolete by the 1860s, M1814 blunderbusses were used by the USN during the Civil War to destroy Confederate naval mines.

The Brazilian Navy used swivel blunderbusses until the adoption of the Gatling Gun in the 1870s.

Later civilian use

Crude tripwire activated blunderbusses, known as alarm guns, spring guns and cemetery guns, were set up in graveyards and country estates to scare away poachers and resurrection men, and to alert the gamekeeper or sexton to their presence.

By the middle of the 19th century, the blunderbuss was replaced for military use by the carbine, but still found use by civilians as a defensive firearm.

Blunderbusses were used by rebels during the War of Canudos. After modern rifles were captured they remained in use in some roles. Blunderbuss shots were used by the rebels to signal commands at long distances where whistles could not be heard.

  • In Robert Lewis Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped, the protagonist's paranoid uncle Ebenezer confronts him with a loaded blunderbuss when he arrives after dark.
  • In the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast, the main antagonist Gaston uses a blunderbuss for hunting.
  • In the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the blunderbuss is used by the pirate crew of the Black Pearl. They are used more prominently by main characters in the sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), including Cotton (David Bailie), Pintel (Lee Arenberg), Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin R. McNally) and Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).
  • In the 2012 film Looper, Loopers carry a modern version of a blunderbuss. Loopers, whose job is to execute bound prisoners at close range, use a blunderbuss: "Because it's impossible to hit anything further than ," and "Impossible to miss anything closer."
  • In the 2025 film Frankenstein, a four barrelled blunderbuss is used by Danish explorers against the creature created by Victor Frankenstein.
  • The blunderbuss is one of several guns featured in the Roblox game Dead Rails.

See also

  • Coach gun
  • Combat shotgun
  • Musketoon
  • Riot shotgun
  • Sawed-off shotgun

References

Sources