I'm developing a world in which everything needed to create gunpowder (sulfur, charcoal, potassium nitrate) along with other chemicals, are all infused with *chaotic, unstable magic*. Weapons which rely on these substances are considered too dangerous to use in war, since magic creates *unpredictable effects*- the weapon can explode, the projectile might reverse course, or the target's wound will appear on the shooter's body instead. It's a soft magic system in that the precise rules for what determines these outcomes are seemingly left to chance.

So far I've guessed that

* Guns might not have developed beyond [early firearms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_firearm)
* They would only be used by "suicidal cults" or anyone who doesn't care about dying.
* They might be used in cases like [witch dunking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunking) where a person's guilt is determined by whether they survive the ordeal. (If the holder is killed by their gun, they were deemed guilty.)

Are these realistic outcomes? Is it likely that firearms would be abandoned altogether, in favor of more reliable weapons like swords?