"Contraire to popular belief, the flared muzzle of the blunderbuss had nothing to do with shot dispersion...."
Absolutely correct. The actual reason for making them that way is lost to time. They did, however, give somebody out front something to think about, though the funnel theory may have been a real consideration.
"...the blunderbuss was primarily a coachman's weapon...."
Also quite true, and it continued as such till the doublebarrel gun took it's place.
My favorite blunderbuss story deals with an attack on a coach by blunderbuss toting roughs. It's a classic case of assassination:
"Take the case of Thomas Thymm. This unfortunate gentleman possessed the unholy combination of a very satisfactory income and a very unsatisfactory wife, who thought she could enjoy the property much better with someone else. Eventually, the notorious Swedish adventurer, Count Konigsmark, became one of her lovers and decided to correct the situation for her by removing the unwanted husband and substituting hiimself. For helpers he hired three professional killers who chose a blunderbuss as the proper instrument for their purpose. Thus one Sunday evening in February, 1681, they intersepted Thynn's coach. Two of the killers covered the coachman with their pistols while the third disposed of the husband by blazing away through the coach window with his blunderbuss. Fortunately for Count Konigsmark, Mrs. Thynn had not accompanied her husband, for the awful blanketed the inside of the vehicle and left absolutely no doubt about the outcome. The surgeon who examined the remains declared that he, 'found in Thynn's body four bullets which had torn into his Guts, wounded his Liver, and Stomach, and Gall, broke one Rib, and wounded the great Bone below'. In case anyone wondered, the surgeon succinctly concluded: 'Of which Wounds he dyed.'"
No kidding!!!!
