Blunderbuss

a short, clumsy, large-barreled, bell-mouthed shotgun. It was loaded with a handful of slugs or buckshot and was used to repel burglars, or a boarding party at the ship's rail, or for any other purpose where a murderous fire of musketry could be delivered at short range. It was a distinctively English firearm. The barrel was made usually of brass and was liable to burst. The term blunderbuss is applied not infrequently to a clumsy or to an ill-advised political speaker, who discharges a volley of ill-considered eloquence, doing about as much harm to his own party as to his opponent.