OK Corral and coach guns

[CutlassCollector]

The British Royal Mail while not as romantic as Well Fargo also carried official guards armed with two pistols and a blunderbuss. Sometimes with a spring loaded bayonet as the one from The Postal Museum shows.

Both pistols and blunderbuss were usually brass barrelled presumably because the guard was outside no matter the weather. They were stamped for the Mail around the circumference of the muzzle. Shown on a pistol here.

"Something I discovered recently that I thought I would open up for potential correction:
the trumpet like muzzle of a blunderbuss was not to spread the shot - a short barrel would do that - it was to facilitate re-loading while sitting on a moving coach."

Yes, I read some research from a ballistics expert sometime ago and he concluded that the shape of the muzzle, even those with the flattened cylinder shape, had little effect on the spread of shot. Make an explosion behind a load of lead balls and they all head off in a, mostly, straight line.
The flared muzzle was therefor good for facilitating reloading with a handful of balls in a coach or at sea where they were also often used. Another factor to consider was the intimidation of the huge muzzle. Useful perhaps if a quick reload not possible and letting off a warning shot was not a good tactic!


Another popular story about filling blunderbuss's with old nails and rocks is apparently also largely false - unless of course you are in dire circumstance and run out of ammo.
There is a real danger of scrap jamming in the barrel and blowing up the gun.