Semantics...or, is that a gun in your pocket?

[Bacchus]

My wife and I were having a discussion last night about gun semantics. I say that the word "pistol" refers to a semi-automatic handgun (and bolt actions--single shot "pistols") as contrasted with "revolver" . However, her point was that "pistol" is a general title much like handgun or firearm.

Can anyone clear this up?

 

[Ben Swenson]

Webster's says that you're right ... kind of.

Here's their definition:

Pronunciation: 'pis-t&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French pistole, from German, from Middle High German pischulle, from Czech píst'ala, literally, pipe, fife; akin to Czech pistet to squeak
Date: circa 1570
: a handgun whose chamber is integral with the barrel; broadly : HANDGUN

Thus, a revolver would not fit the primary definition of "pistol" as set forth by Webster's

Then again, meaning can be fluid ... for better or worse.

 

[Pendragon]

Pistols:

Autoloaders
TC Contenders (falling block?)
Derringers
Bolt Action
Pepperbox

 

[Mal H]

This is going to be a hard one to settle to everyone's satisfaction. I tend to agree more with your wife. A pistol is a firearm that is designed to be held and fired with one hand. A revolver is a specialized form of a pistol. However, these days 'pistol' has more narrowly come to mean a semi-automatic and a 'revolver' has come to mean a pistol with revolving chambers.

 

[Drjones]

When someone says "pistol" I generally think of a Semi.

 

[CWL]

The word has simply evolved over the centuries. It may continue to do so.

Pistols used to be single shot, muzzle-loading wheellocks or flintlocks.

Then pistols evolved into "modern revolvers" in the mid 1800's;

Nowadays revolvers are "old-fashioned" and semi-autos are pistols.

 

[Keith_Yorktown]

From Websters 1913...

http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=pistol

Pistol (Page: 1090)
Pis"tol (?), n. [F. pistole, pistolet, It. pistola; prob. from a form Pistola, for Pistoja, a town in Italy where pistols were first made. Cf. Pistole.] The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, -- now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names. See Illust. of Revolver.<-- generically, also called handgun --> Pistol carbine, a firearm with a removable but-piece, and thus capable of being used either as a pistol or a carbine. -- Pistol pipe (Metal.), a pipe in which the blast for a furnace is heated, resembling a pistol in form. -- Pistol shot. (a) The discharge of a pistol. (b) The distance to which a pistol can propel a ball.

Revolver (Page: 1235)
Re*volv"er (?), n.One who, or that which, revolves; specifically, a firearm ( commonly a pistol) with several chambers or barrels so arranged as to revolve on an axis, and be discharged in succession by the same lock; a repeater.

Technically couldn't a Gatling gun be considered a revolver?

 

[45King]

....and to further muddy the waters, let us not forget that at one time, "handgun" refered to any gun which could be carried by hand.....

I prefer "pistol" for semi's, "revolver" for those, and 'sidearm" as a generic term.

 

[Drjones]

I prefer "pistol" for semi's, "revolver" for those, and 'sidearm" as a generic term

Ditto.

 

[CWL]

words & meanings evolve,

Here's what "handguns" & "pistols" used to look like starting 600 years ago:

http://sykesutler.home.att.net/musket1.htm

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Under current usage the pistol is normally understood to be an auto.

Most if not all competitive handgun organizations identify a pistol as an auto loader and put the revolver in its own class.

I do believe that the same is true for gun magazines and for handgun catalogs from manufacturers.

 

[Guyon]

I'm not sure I buy that pronunciation. Everyone knows the proper pronunciation is "peeestol."

 

[hansolo]

PEESTOL, REVOLVER

Interesting hair-splitting thread

One thing fer sher: don't call them 'guns': a retired LEO friend says that in his academy days, an instructor held his S&W .38 Special in one hand, and put the other hand on his crotch. Looking at the .38 he said, "This is your weapon"; looking straight down he said, "This is your 'gun'. Do not call your weapon a 'gun'."

 

[Long Path]

Samuel Colt designated his Pattersons as "pistols". I have always felt that, while it is perhaps more comfortable to call a semi-auto a "pistol," it is not incorrect to refer to a revolver as a "pistol." I have NEVER seen an authoritative definition of Pistol (prior to the one above) that specifically disallowed revolvers from such a status.

I used to always think of a pistol as an easily-portable handgun. However, Walker Dragoons would certainly test that definition, as would a Remington XP-100. (I still refuse to call THAT a pistol; it is a hand gun.) The Montenegro would also test such a notion, as would the ornate and specifically titled dueling pistols of days past (many of which had 10" barrels or more!".

Given the Webster's definition that Cordex used, a Colt Agent lightweight snubnosed revolver or a Smith Model 10 would not be a "pistol," but the above mentioned Remington XP-100 with a 14" barrel would be a "pistol." To quote a friend of mine: "That ain't right."

It is also incorrect nomenclature, IMO, to refer to handguns in all their various varieties as "guns." A "gun" is either a mounted naval artillary piece or a shotgun. All else are rifles, pistols, SMG's, MG's, muskets, howitzers, or cannon. [what did I miss?]

("Rifles" includes subcategory: 'Carbines'. "Pistols" includes subcategory: 'Revolvers'. )

Then let us move on to "stocks" vs. "grips", and "magazine" vs. "clip", and "machine gun" vs. "submachine gun".....

 

[Bacchus]

So...let's say that you're shopping for a new firearm. But you don't have a specific model in mind.

Do you say I'm looking for a "pistol"? Too broad, right? I would think that specifying "revolver" or "semi-auto" would be more specific and help the person point you in the right direction.

 

[Dannyboy]

I consider pistols to be firearms that can be fired with one hand, regardless of chamber type. They are then broken down into 2 types: Semi-autos and Revolvers. Well, I guess they can actually be broke down into more groups than that(muzzleloader types, TC single shot types) but I'll stick with that for this thread.

 

[Johnny Guest]

I LOVE this language stuff!


Someone quite knowledgeable about linguistics once told me that English is the richest of all languages in having so many near-synonyms and words for NEARLY the same concept, with subtle shades of meaning. (Phew!)

Some decades back, I heard a good distinction between PISTOLS and REVOLVERS:

HANDGUN is the generic term for a firearm designed to be operated principally with one hand (regardless that many of us frequently use two hands for steadiness.)

A pistol is an handgun in which the barrel(s) and chamber(s) is(are) integral, Thus, a T-C Contender, a Remington .41 double derringer, the little Sharps four-barrel - - -all are pistols, as surely as a 1911 or a Glock autoloader.

A revolver is a handgun with a revolving cylinder serving as a magazine--Multiple chambers coming into alignment with a single barrel.

I was pretty staunch on this differentiation for many years, almost to the point of boorishness. Then I took note of some old ads and box lids with the phrase, "Col. Colt's Revolving Belt Pistol." Now, if Col. Sam- - - arguably the inventor, certainly the popularizer, of the revolver - - termed his brain child such, who be I to contest the phrase?

So, I use the terms almost interchangeably--Pistol, handgun, sidearm, and--in certain cases only--revolver.

And, on a tangent - - -A sidearm can be any weapon worn on the person, firearm or edged implement of mayhem-- sword, dagger, dirk, Bowie Knife, bayonet - - but usually excluding a cutting tool, such as a small folding knife, box opener, case cutter, or flooring knife - - -But we all know how certain tools may be misused.

Yes, I am aware that in the early days of firearms for warfare, "gonnes" were what we call cannon or field pieces or seige guns now. A "hand-gonne" was any firearm which could be used by one person, including shoulder firearms.

Yours for better word games,
Johnny Guest