Why did it take so long to develop the pistol grip? It seems so obvious nowadays

Before repeating rifles became mainstream, your rifle was expected to double as a pike to fend of cavalry. Once warfare became mechanized and reloading could be done quickly, the average fighting rifle didn't need to fill that role so ergonomics that lent themselves to firing and reloading became more popular.

Yep, that, and the added complexity of a separate piece of wood that would have to be attached to the stock was likely seen as superfluous back then.

>why didn't muskets have this feature that's only advantageous on semi autos

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Pistol grips have more use than just for handling on self-loaders. They can be used to manage recoil, with your hand and shoulder working together. They can also be used as a taller point to rest the rifle. Theyre also more comfortable than squeezing the neck of a more classic stock.

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Because wood grain runs in more or less straight lines. Pistol grips on stock-based guns always have one or more weakness:
weak
requires more careful selection of wood (expensive)
requires joinery.

Receiver- or chassis-based guns where the furniture is just bolted onto a metal structure are where pistol grips became popular, because then you don't have those downsides.

>They can be used to manage recoil
who cares about managing recoil when your going to move the whole gun to a vertical position to reload the muzzleloader?

It would be awkward to carve into the stock.
The more important reason is that muskets are equal parts gun and spear.
A pistol grip would get in the way of it being used as a spear.

Your forgetting literally the hundreds of other rifles that didnt have pistol grips after muzzleloaders. Like quite literally up to the M14. And everything inbetween.

Because having a pistol grip on a manual action gun would be awkward as fuck. Imagine having to cock the hammer on a musket when your thumb is several inches away? Also imagine bolt actions in that situation as well?
Shit would be awkward as fuck to say the least.

But it isnt and there are many bolt guns with full hand pistol grips.

>But it isnt and there are many bolt guns with full hand pistol grips.
those guns are specialized tools for sniping and precision. nobody is trying to magdump a awp as fast as possible.

Name one used as a primary arm by a military. For precision shooters and civilians, having a pistol grip is fine and dandy when speed and ergos arent paramount.

Well, we used them on submachine guns in the second world war, like the thompson and grease gun. Some M1 carbines had pistol grips, like the ones used by artillery crews and paratroopers. In the korean war the M2 carbines with full auto capability usually had pistol grips and some M14s were issued with them in vietnam. It didn't really become a standard design feature until the world moved to intermediate cartridges for service rifles. This user would guess that a lot of it comes from the older schools of thought where a rifle was a rifle, and the order of arms for an M1 garand would have been taught the same way that your father in WW1 would have learned to shoulder and fire his bolt rifle.

because then didnt