Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Doesn't the specific configuration of a thing serve a specific PURPOSE? Elsewise why are there so many guns and rifles and shotguns?
Long barrel = better accuracy than short barrel. Rifled barrel = better accuracy than smoothbore. Shotgun = wider dispersal pattern so you're more likely to hit something "flighty". Blunderbus = load it with whatever projectiles you have on hand.
Though there are "snake"/"bird" loads for regular handguns and rifles - they don't work as well as shotguns.
Wow! What does the longest barrel measure Walt? Two or three feet? Smoothbore versus rifled? I thought a blunderbus was in ancient times. They still exist? Anything that includes the word "BLUNDER" I tend to avoid.
As for snake or bird "loads" which do you prefer...the snake or the bird? Of course I don't have a clue what either one is. I had no idea weapons that kill came in such magnificent variety. No wonder folks need arsenals. Need to have all of them for the TRUE gun lover. Thank you for your reply Walt and Happy Tuesday to you and yours. What's going on weather wise, fire wise and otherwise in your part of the country? Anything good?
This post was edited by RosieG at July 13, 2021 4:10 AM MDT
FOUR FEET? Lordy lordy how did they carry it? When you shoot it how is the recoil? Don't some put you on your butt they're so strong? Thank you for your informative reply Walt and the link! Appreciate both bigly! :)
Shotguns were developed for shooting birds and small, fast-moving animals.
Rifles are for shooting large animals that can only be brought down by a hefty bullet penetrating a vital part of the body... and humans; as it was developed also as an army weapon capable of killing a person at quite long range. The barrel is "rifled" (has internal grooves cut in a gentle spiral) to set the bullet spinning round its own axis in flight, to increase the weapon's accuracy.
Automatic and semi-automatic guns only have one purpose: killing people. Intended for the battlefield, they are also frighteningly attractive to certain criminals and armed gangs.
Hand-guns were only ever intended for shooting people at short range. I am told by an antique-gun enthusiast friend that the scenes you see in old "Westerns", of quick-draw, long-range, accurate sniping with a revolver, are simply ridiculous.
Hand-guns and rifles are also used legitimately for sport-shooting at static, inert targets; and shotguns similarly but at "clay pigeons" hurled into the air by special catapults. That is pursued either as a sport itself that does not kill animals, or for closed-season practice by game-bird shooters.
The Blunderbus was archaic in the 19C. It was a single-shot pistol with a relatively long, wide barrel that fired shot rather than single bullets, with a spread to hit more people or give more chance of hitting one person.
Walt O'Reagun 