Thread by @hystericempress

oh hey it's time for everybody's favorite infrequent feature, "Bea Talks About Weird Historical Weapons"

today's feature: GUNBLADES. no, really.

yeah, so it turns out Final Fantasy 8 wasn't actually barking up the wrong tree, as melee weapons with integrated firearms aren't a particularly novel or even new idea. around the 16th and 17th centuries, sword-pistols got really, really popular among those who could afford them.

take this example, a naval cutlass with an integrated double-barreled flintlock, wielded by no less than Lord Horatio Nelson himself at the Battle of Trafalgar

the idea was that often, particularly in close-combat, it's difficult to shoot off-handed with a pistol, and you only get one shot with a flintlock to make it count before you're SOL and have to spend a solid minute and a half reloading or switch to a fresh gun.

So, the logic went: por que no los dos? It got to be a shockingly widespread concept, too. The Polish Cavalry from the 16th to 18th centuries were particularly noted for their use of axe-pistols, which were large-bore flintlocks with axe-heads hard-mounted to the barrel.

The axe-pistol in particular got so widespread it was adopted by other militaries, including marines in the 18th-century Swedish navy. To say nothing of the gunblade's popularity among nobility and landed gentry, too.

Henry the VIIth in particular was noted to be OBSESSED with them; his personal guards carried shields with forward-mounted pistols built into them, and notoriously carried a triple-barreled pistol-morning star combo he called his 'Walking Staff' and carried on inspections.

In Germany, pistol-swords got especially popular with boar hunters; they'd mount flintlocks to estoc, with the idea being you get close enough to stab the beast to prove your bravery and tracking skill, then fire your shot to kill it before it charges.

If that sounds somehow familiar this design was the basis for Bloodborne's Reiterpallasch, by the by.

So why did people STOP using gunblades? There's a couple reasons:

Firstly, because they weren't particularly great either as guns or blades. Longer blades with a pistol mounted had extremely unwieldy balance issues and required high strength and skill for questionable payoff.

Similarly, smaller pistols with heavy cleaver-like blades were hard to draw swiftly due to their weight and shape, thus negating the advantages of both a small pistol and a shortsword.

The death knell though was widespread adoption of the bayonet lug on rifles.

Amusingly, the Polish axe-pistol was a very functional close-quarters design and remained in service for a full century after the introduction of true bayoneted rifles, lasting all the way to the 18th century. But by the late 17th century, the gunblade was all but dead.

So what's the takeaway from all this? First off: 'compromise' designs rarely work out to end up with the best parts of their components. Often, you end up with a messy hodgepodge of conflicting elements that sap each other's strengths.

But secondly, and perhaps more pointedly, ergonomics matter. Nobody likes getting powder burns on their sword hand or accidentally slicing their finger off reaching for a trigger. If you absolutely HAVE to stick a gun on a sword, do so in a responsible manner, like 'don't.'