system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do all the popular depictions of muskets/blunderbuss have such stupid barrels, like its a funnel stuck on the end? (In Disney movies; Gaston's gun for example)

I'm not exactly an expert on guns in any way, but where did this come from? I could see a less exaggerated design of that nature being good at spraying a lot of shrapnel in a wide area at short range, but even that  seems like a serious stretch. So in short, wtf is up with that?
gpt
Muskets generally did not have a flared mussle. A Blunderbuss was a rudimentary shotgun, it could be loaded with anything from pellets, nails, or whatever shrapnel was around. The flare helps increase the spread to cover a wide area. The weapons are already inaccurate as hell, so it woud benefit the attacker to be able to cover a larger area to ensure that something hits the target.