Karabin, garubin rifle

This rifle is also known as the blunderbuss or donderbus (word of a Dutch origin), which means a rifle from which lightning strikes (donder – lightning and buss – pipe). The same type of rifle with Western style decoration is called a karabin, garubin or French blunderbuss.

It represented a type of a flintlock shotgun, with large calibre steel or brass barrels and a characteristic wide trumpet-like muzzle. The purpose of the flaring muzzle was not to shoot more efficiently, as was generally believed, but to enable easier muzzle loading in the carriages that were shaking on the roads. This type of shotgun was usually used for defense against brigands but it also had a military purpose, such as with dragoon troops.