Nomenclature

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Bucksnort1

New member
After posting my thread about the single shot break open hexagonal 22 handgun, I thought about this.

If a handgun with a rotating cylinder is called a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun is called a pistol, what is a single shot pistol called that has no cylinder and of course is not semi-auto? Handgun and firearm both work nicely but is there another nomenclature?
 
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Aguila Blanca

Staff
Historically, all handguns were "pistols." Certainly revolvers were called pistols, until comparatively recently when some (not all) self-styled experts decided that only semi-autos (and flintlock dueling pistols) could be pistols.

For some people, the distinction is that a pistol has the chamber integral with the barrel. That would seem to include both rolling block and break-open handguns.
 
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James K

Member In Memoriam
Prior to around 1930, most handguns were called "pistols". Colt called his guns "pistols" and most writers used the term for both types of handguns.

So then some writers got all over correctness and decided that a "pistol" meant an "automatic" pistol or a single shot, while pistols with a revolving cylinder were "revolvers." Part of that arose from the then-new idea of laws "controlling" guns; most of those laws used the term "pistol", so revolver owners insisted that their guns were not covered. So the lawmakers went back to the drawing board and came up with "handgun" which meant (and means) exactly what the old term "pistol" meant.

Jim
 
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deerslayer303

New member
Pistol also means a small gun made to be aimed and fired with one hand.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pistol
The term can be used for any handgun, but be careful the mall ninja gun term police may jump right in and correct you when you call a revolver a "Pistol". These are the same that will have a stroke if you call a magazine a clip [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
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Jim Watson

New member
And people will get on your case if you call a semi-automatic handgun an "automatic," too, in spite of the fact that Colt used to stamp that right on the gun.
 
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K_Mac

New member
I grew up in a world where a pistol was any handgun, and a clip was what held the bullets in an automatic. I have friends and family who still use these descriptions. I use the currently accepted term for clarity, but I don't get offended when someone else doesn't. The only time I feel compelled to correct someone is when they call a modern sporting rifle an automatic, or assault rifle. In this situation correction is needed.

Language and usage changes over time. I must be getting old...
 
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armedleo

New member
As long as we're communicating I think that's really all that matters. Its like people get all huffy when you say AD and relish the opportunity to correct you by informing you there's no such thing as an AD its an ND; or Unintentional Discharge. Regardless of the nomenclature, we all know what we're talking about.
 
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849ACSO

New member
It's my understanding that all handguns are pistols, and were referred to as such until the "auto pistol" came into vogue. Then the terms were separated into "revolver" and "pistol" to distinguish between the two a bit easier.

Again, the term pistol, to my understanding, is synonymous with any handgun, but I prefer to use the two different terms.
 
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tangolima

New member
They are all pistols. Revolvers are just special kind of pistols; they have revolving multiple chambers. Just like fixed wing planes and helicopters are aircrafts.

I avoid using the term "handgun" whenever I can, because "footgun" doesn't exist.

-TL
 
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K_Mac

New member
I like handgun also. As in the World's Finest Handgun. The PPQ.
Click to expand...

Well, it's definitely a handgun! World's finest is a judgement call. As much as I like polymer pistols and think many are excellent fighting handguns, I am not sure any of them can be called the World's finest. For me that would require steel, wood and a deep blue finish. Unfortunately I do not own anything that would be in the running.
 
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Carmady

New member
I looked up "pistol" in the dictionary years ago.

Something like "a pistol is a handgun with the chamber integral to the barrel."

The OP's "single shot pistol...that has no cylinder and of course is not semi-auto" is a pistol by that definition.

So are derringers, the pepper box (a revolver without a separate barrel), COP, etc.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
The old school definition of a pistol is a handgun that has a chamber intergral to the barrel.
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In the beginning, before the invention of the revolver, before cartridge firearms, before the percussion cap, before the flintlock, there was the wheelock, PISTOL.

There might have been matchlock pistols, as well but I cannot recall seeing any. Have seen several wheelocks. Before the revolver, ALL pistols had chambers integral with the barrel.

Colt's original patent was for a "revolving pistol".

TODAY several dictionaries define pistol differently from revolver. What they don't do is say a revolver is not a pistol. That is a modern inference.

Some sources say "pistol" derived from Pistoia, Italy where handguns were made in the 1500s...

To me, all handguns are pistols, revolvers are a special kind of pistol. I think that about covers it.

What's a handgun? A gun that fired by hand? A rifle is also fired by hand, is it not?
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While fired by the hand (finger pulling the trigger) the distinction is made that handguns are not designed nor made to be fired from the shoulder.
 
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