Terminology: pistol or revolver?

[Scooter .45]

Is it correct to refer to a revolver as a pistol? Or is the word "pistol" reserved for auto-loaders?

[Ala Dan]

Greeting's Scooter .45-

When I think of the word "pistol", I automatically
relate that to the self loader's. And, when I hear the
word "revolver", I think of two thing's:

a) the single action "wheel gun's" of yester year and
b) the modern DA "wheel gun's".

Webster's New Explorer Dictionary defines the word
"pistol" as a firearm held with one hand. So, I
guess it can be used with either/or.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

[tiberius]

I've heard a lot of fellow gun nuts insist that a "pistol" must have the chamber integral to the barrel, thus segregating revolvers. I personally use the word "pistol" as synonmous to and instead of "handgun".

[355sigfan]

Pistols can refer to semiautos, single shots, derringers and manually operated handguns. Revolvers refer only to revolvers.
Pat

[goon]

These guys are right.
I have read old Colt advertisements from the late 1800's that referred to their revolvers as pistols.
Who am I to argue with that?

[BluesBear]

A handgun with a revolving cylinder is a revolver.

A handgun without a cylinder is a pistol.

[mete]

Back in the 1800s a pistol meant a single shot . Later a semiautomatic was also called a pistol. A revolver is a revolver. However the terms are not absolute especially when used by those who know nothing about the subject. I remember the time when the exgovernor of new york refered to a 9mm automatic revolver LOL.

[George Hill]

All handguns are pistols... but not all pistols are revolvers.

[Dave R]

I'm with George. This whole pistol=semiauto seems to be a recent phenomenon.

The way I was raised, pistol=handgun. Revolver is a subset of Pistol. Semi-auto is a subset of pistol. But both are pistols.

[jar]

Now there really is a distinction between rifle and gun. :p :p

[BluesBear]

I guess something I was taugh 40 years ago could be considered to be a recent phenomenon.

Of course my father was taught the same thing about 40 years before that.

[JohnBT]

If a pistol is only a semi-auto, then why isn't a pistolero called a revolverero?

Seriously, I'm with George on this one.

John

[BluesBear]

From Merriam-Webster (who was not Richie Cunningham's mother)

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


If you want to use broad terms then the M1 Garand is an automatic rifle.



The word pistoleer, from which the word pistolero is derived, predates the revolver.


Welcome to America where you can call anything what you wish. Correctly or incorrectly. Heck fire you can even make up your own words for stuff.

As for me, my S&W N-frame is a Revosnizzle and my Colt Series 80 is a Pistnizzle. :D

[JohnBT]

Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (my neighbor has my library-quality unabridged dictionary - you know, the BIG one) says:

pistol 1. a short firearm intended to be aimed and fired with one hand.
2. a handgun whose chamber is integral to the barrel.

So from here it looks like a matter of pick one and run with it.

I did a little searching and found relatively early uses of the word pistoleer, but haven't found too much on pistolero.

John

[Sean Smith]

This is very simple, though I hate to introduce logic into a gun board discussion of semantics. :p

The pistol predated the revolver. It also predated firearms having a distinct "chamber" at all, so a dictionary definition of "pistol" depending on the location of the "chamber" is quite "silly," because it means that all those handguns predating development of a handgun with a distinct chamber are no longer "pistols," even though the users and makers of the same called them "pistols" hundreds of years ago.

Pistol was the original term for any and all small, hand-held firearms. Revolver describes a specific type of pistol that was invented later. All revolvers are pistols. Not all pistols are revolvers.

[RUT]

>>All handguns are pistols... but not all pistols are revolvers.<<

This sums it up in a proverbial nut shell.

[Brad Johnson]

Run Forrest, RUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!!!

It's amazing what people will argue about. It's a great part of the reason why I stopped going to church. I got tired of hearing the constant bickering about who's version of religion was correct. I equate it to fleas arguing over the name of the dog.

Call it a banana for all I care, just stop whining about linguistic technicalities. It's a useless waste of time and bandwidth.

:rolleyes:

Brad

[BluesBear]

It also predated firearms having a distinct "chamber" at all, How can you possible say there was no "distinct chamber"?
The area where the propellant is ingnited IS the "chamber".

It was not by accident that the first cannons had a flash hole.

[Waitone]

This thread points out the problem with language pro-RKBA'ers have. It is important we gain control over our own language because anti-RKBA types are busily imputing their own definitions into the popular discourse.

Has anyone noticed that since Feinsten et al introduced AWB On Steroids that the language has shifted ever so slightly. Use to be we saw news reports talking about handguns used in crimes. Well now I'm seeing new reports being uncharacteristically specific by referring to "semi-automatic" handguns. In other reports I've noticed the evil assault weapons being referred to as "semi-automatic assault weapons." Again, uncharacteristically specific.

I sense a move to blur the distinction between handguns and shoulder guns by emphasizing the semi-automatic function. The latest boogie man appears to be the semi-automatic function. How do you procted the children from the semi-auto boogie man? Why you outlaw the function and force handgunners into using wheel guns and shoulder gunners into single shot, bolt operated rifles (which BTW is precisely where Feinstein has said she was headed).

We had better control our own language because it is being manipulated for political purposes.

--It a hand gun has a cyliner, it is a "revolver."
--Anything else is a pistol.

Neat, clean and self-evident.

[mec]

"I guess something I was taugh 40 years ago could be considered to be a recent phenomenon.

Of course my father was taught the same thing about 40 years before that.

"""""""

Thats about the right time frame alright. the more impolite gunwriters were urinating down on anybody who called a Revolver ( technically a 'Rotator'}, a pistol . And sure enough, somebody noticed that colt called his invention a " Revolving Pistol."
Novelists used to catch it over the phrase " Automatic Revolver" but no doubt they found it while looking through the catalogs-and not at Webley Fosburys. Here's an Automatic Revolver- so cataloged because of its automatic ejector;
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Handguns/Double_Action_Revolvers/desksml.jpg

[Brad Johnson]

Fleas and dogs, gentlemen, fleas and dogs.

Brad

[Mike Irwin]

Up until around World War I pistol was as generic a term as handgun.

Colt and Smith & Wesson, as well as others, advertised revolving pistols and, as technology progressed, they advertised semi-automatic pistols, as well. S&W, with its single-shot target guns based on revolver frames, advertised target pistols.

As it has developed over the past 70 or so years, though, pistol has become somewhat generic for the semi-automatic, just as auto pistol or auto is now pretty generic for semi-automatic.

To say that a revolver is a pistol is technically correct, but it's really no longer common usage.

To say that calling a revolver a pistol is incorrect, though, is also wrong.

[JoeWang]

Dave R said

"The way I was raised, pistol=handgun. Revolver is a subset of Pistol. Semi-auto is a subset of pistol. But both are pistols."

And both sets are exclusive :neener:

[BluesBear]

mec, yes the term "Automatic Revolver" was widely used in the 19th Century.

From my collection:
http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/BluesBear/EC_Meacham_Arms_Co_St_Louis_1884_Smith-Wesson.jpg http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/BluesBear/EC_Meacham_Arms_Co_St_Louis_1884_Merwin-Hulbert1.jpg http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/BluesBear/EC_Meacham_Arms_Co_St_Louis_1884_Merwin-Hulbert2.jpg

All are from the 1884 E.C. Meacham Arms Co. St. Louis catalogue


I have hi-res versions of these if anyone is interested

[45crittergitter]

Both sets of answers are correct. A revolver is, and is not, a pistol. How can this be? Well, the feds/ATF, and probably some states have legally defined pistols and revolvers separately, using the "chamber integral with the barrel" business. However, Sam Colt, who presumably invented the revolver, called his new invention a "revolving pistol." I suggest either answer has equal merit as far as being correct, but if a legal issue is involved, I would stick to the legal definition.

[XLMiguel]

Pistol = handgun. If pistol only referred to auto-loaders, why would they have designated 'acp' as in automatic Colt pistol?

M2, in the Department of Redundancy Department;)

[Tamara]

On a related note: How many angels can dance on the tip of a firing pin? ;)

[Mike Irwin]

7.

The answer is 7.

[OF]

Silly rabbit. Angels don't dance!

- Gabe

[Feanaro]

pis·tol
n.
A firearm designed to be held and fired with one hand.

tr.v. pis·toled, pis·tol·ing, pis·tols
To shoot with such a handgun.

\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.

pistol

n : a firearm that is held and fired with one hand [syn: handgun, side arm, shooting iron]

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


In effect, both are correct. Trying to say otherwise is splitting hairs.

[Brad Johnson]

I tried splitting a hair once. Problem is, it was still on my head at the time. What a bloody mess....

:neener:

Brad

[cheygriz]

Sam Colt referred to his revolvers as "revolving pistols." Old Sam's word is good enough for me.

And BTW, what difference does it make? If I invent a new one -handed weapon and decide to call it "The Avacado 2" whose to say I can't?

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (Shakespeare)