To extend your example: Rifling pre-dates muskets, despite most muskets being smoothbore. This is because muzzle-loaders are slower to load if they're rifled (t

To extend your example: Rifling pre-dates muskets, despite most muskets being smoothbore. This is because muzzle-loaders are slower to load if they're rifled (the point of the rifling is to grip the bullet and force it to spin, but that grip applies just as hard when you're ramming the bullet into its firing position), so you were paying more for a substantially lower rate-of-fire and the rifling was harder to clean, more prone to failure etc. Once breachloaders became common, rifling also became common.