# \[Archive\] Just something about the Blunderbuss
**URL:** https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361
**Category:** \[Archive\] Modeling Ideas and Advice
**Created:** [23 August 2007 04:21 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361 "2007-08-23T04:21:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 04:21 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/1 "2007-08-23T04:21:22Z")
**catbarf** :
Okay, I don’t have pictures, but hear me out. Everyone knows a Blunderbuss has a flared end, but why? The answer is simple: reloading. To reload a Blunderbuss, once must pour tiny pellets down the barrel, and that’s rather tricky if the barrel is half an inch wide! So, they have the flared end (this doesn’t affect the spread of the projectiles). However, there’s another option: If a CD Blunderbuss were made to be breechloading, it wouldn’t need the flared tip, since you’d be loading it like a double-barreled shotgun (with one barrel). Thus, it would be perfectly all right to use ordinary Handguns, as long as perhaps you modeled a few reloading. This would also help if you wanted your army to be able to function as normal Dwarfs as well.
Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 04:43 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/2 "2007-08-23T04:43:25Z")
**Titanomachy** :
Interesting… I was looking up real blunderbusses and none of the ones I saw had flared ends either. I want to see one of these blunder-guns: its a great idea.
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### Author:  [@cornixt](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/cornixt)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 02:18 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/3 "2007-08-23T02:18:47Z")
**cornixt** :
You still need to get the powder in there, breach loading is only easier if you are using bullets or cartridges, which blunderbusses don’t.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 02:48 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/4 "2007-08-23T02:48:13Z")
**grom** :
here u have one :wink:
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### Author:  [@Xander](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/Xander)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 03:04 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/5 "2007-08-23T03:04:22Z")
**Xander** :
Well, you are certianly allowed to model yours however you like, but fluff says they have Blunderbusses, not Shotguns! 😛 Unless you were to convince the counsel of Sorcerers that we should adopt a new weapon, I will stick to Blunderbusses. 😛
But actually, your idea is very similar to Grim’s:
[https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/6025](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/6025)
Cheers!
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 03:47 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/6 "2007-08-23T03:47:09Z")
**catbarf** :
It seems to me that Dwarf and Empire handguns use cartridges of some sort- I mean, they’ve got them all hanging in bandoleers. It seems to me that they use a strange system of muzzle-loading cartridges- so I figured breechloading wasn’t too far off.
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### Author:  [@PyroStick](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/PyroStick)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 05:58 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/7 "2007-08-23T05:58:43Z")
**Pyro Stick** :
Chaos Dwars with blunderbuss with the flared ends just gives them the chaos dwarf look though. I dont think the models would look that good if you gave them guns that looked like empire guns
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 06:07 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/8 "2007-08-23T06:07:37Z")
**catbarf** :
Chaos Dwarfs with hats with the huge spikes just gives them the Chaos Dwarf look though. I don’t think the models would look that good if you gave them helmets that looked like Chaos Warrior helmets.
:wink:
It’s just a preference really (not mine, but others). Everyone has their own idea of what CDs should look like.
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### Author:  [@cornixt](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/cornixt)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 06:42 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/9 "2007-08-23T06:42:04Z")
**cornixt** :
They aren’t cartridges, they are containers of premeasured powder. They are emptied into the gun. You don’t want to be putting too much in!
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 07:37 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/10 "2007-08-23T07:37:22Z")
**catbarf** :
However, if you look closely you notice that they’re made of metal (no folds, straight, perfect proportions). Cartridges used in muzzleloaders were made of cloth, and contained the ball or shot as well as the powder (there’s nowhere else on the model where they’d carry the balls, and because of rifled weapons the firearms technology level certainly seems to be mid-1800s level- thus they’d have whole cartridges with the ball, wadding, and powder). If it’s made of brass or some other metal, there’s no way to get it open without fumbling with some sort of release catch (soldiers were trained to tear open cartridges with their teeth, so they could do it one-handed). Thus, the only logical explanation is that GW had no idea what the hell they were doing, and wanted each Thunderer/Handgunner to look like John Rambo with ammo belts all over. However, since we try to find something that fits with the models we have been given, the best explanation is that they are in fact brass cartridges rammed whole down the barrel or used in a breechloading system.
Besides, even in the end of the Middle Ages they had a way to measure powder- a small plate in the powder horn would allow them to hold the nozzle, tip the horn so that they powder falls into the nozzle, then push the small release on the plate, which would slide in to form a barrier inside the powder horn. It would then trap that small bit of powder, which could then be loaded into the arquebus.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 07:38 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/11 "2007-08-23T07:38:17Z")
**grom** :
> They aren't cartridges, they are containers of premeasured powder. They are emptied into the gun. You don't want to be putting too much in!
>
> **cornixt**
It contains bullet too... And container is made from paper...
when gun is charged it looks that:
[size=xx-large]%%||O||[/size]
Powder **-** half of containter **-** ball **-** half of cointainer
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 10:00 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/12 "2007-08-23T10:00:10Z")
**catbarf** :
The container can’t be paper- they’re all the same shape, and all perfectly cylindrical. And since there’d be no way to load a musket the normal way if the container wasn’t made of silk, it would have to all be rammed down the barrel/breechloaded at once. Either way, it’s a cartridge.
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### Author:  [@cornixt](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/cornixt)
#### Post date: [23 August 2007 10:53 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/13 "2007-08-23T10:53:08Z")
**cornixt** :
Not looked at the Empire ‘cartridges’ but the dwarf ones certainly aren’t perfectly cylindrical and they have pouches which could hold their ‘balls’ if you excuse the language.��I really don’t see how anything that shape would be possible to be loaded if it was solid and it wouldn’t fire very well either.��Muzzle-loaded paper cartridge would make sense but the ones on the models don’t look quite right - unless they are cups that hold the cartridges or something.
I’ll go with the idea that GW mixed up bits and pieces to come up with whatever those things are.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [27 April 2008 10:07 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/14 "2008-04-27T10:07:04Z")
**Sousunou** :
The flaired ed of the muzzle does actually serve a function… It creates a pressure differential when the thing is fired. This helps to keep the shot more condensed in comparison to a shotgun which has a spread effect. Just thought i would make that point. :cheers
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [27 April 2008 07:11 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/15 "2008-04-27T07:11:50Z")
**Kera foehunter** :
blunderbusses are cool but think of a saw off shot gun in close comebat . well being a pirate two saw off shot guns in close combat.would be so much better
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [2 May 2008 01:10 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/16 "2008-05-02T01:10:42Z")
**catbarf** :
> The flaired ed of the muzzle does actually serve a function... It creates a pressure differential when the thing is fired. This helps to keep the shot more condensed in comparison to a shotgun which has a spread effect. Just thought i would make that point. :cheers
>
> **Sousunou**
The National Rifle Association did some tests and found that the barrel shape had no appreciable effect on the rounds fired. The flared barrel doesn't create a pressure differential any more than the empty space around a normal barrel does.
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### Author:  [@HashutsBlessing](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/HashutsBlessing)
#### Post date: [3 May 2008 09:33 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/17 "2008-05-03T09:33:56Z")
**Hashut’s Blessing** :
Sousunou, actually, it was literally just for the ease of loading. they assumed it helped, but it was more for ease of loading :wink: However, the empire models (at least the old ones) had puches as well as these “catridges” which implies shot and powder kept separately. if you wish to have cartridges, that’s cool.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [6 May 2008 05:29 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/18 "2008-05-06T05:29:41Z")
**Sousunou** :
I stand corrected. Guess it was an urban myth. Still, CD with shotguns would look a bit too much like thunderers to me, but its your army so :hat off
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [28 May 2008 07:53 UTC](https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com/t/archive-just-something-about-the-blunderbuss/6361/19 "2008-05-28T07:53:03Z")
**alex** :
its a game of fantasy, chaos dwarfs arent real, so i think we can make some leniency on the weapons and how they work