Can a pistol be a revolver?

[TheOtherOne]

After getting more "into guns" I've come to the understanding that a pistol is an autoloading handgun and a revolver is well a revolver.

But watching old western movies, I know I've heard them refer to their guns as pistols. I know movies are rarely accurate but pistol isn't some new term that came about once semi-automatic handguns were invented, is it?

 

[c_yeager]

The term "pistol" was in use when the very first front-stuffers were around. When revolvers started being made they too were pistols. At the time the term reffered to any handgun. In recent years some people have decided all by themselves that a "Pistol" is ONLY an autoloader and that a revolver is NOT a pistol. There really isnt a right or wrong here. But noone will look at you funny for reffering to a revolver with either term. just dont call autos revolvers and you'll be fine.

 

[Warren]

Though if you have a Dardick or a Mateba you can say whatever you want.

 

[Pappy John]

I may get bugged out from time to time when someone interchanges magazine with clip, but I'm never bothered by calling any type of handgun a pistol.

 

[Crownvicman]

I always understood that a revolver was a type of pistol. Any small arm designed to be fired in one hand is a pistol.

 

[45crittergitter]

An auto is one type of pistol, i.e., an autoloading pistol. Another type would be a bolt action pistol. Sam Colt, who invented revolvers, called his invention a revolving pistol. ATF, however, calls any handgun with a chamber integral to the barrel a "pistol" and anything with a separate chamber a "revolver." 'Course we all know how expert ATF is....

 

[RWK]

These are not really critical distinctions or issues, however (IMHO): all handguns are pistols, some are autoloaders or semiautomatics, some are revolvers, and some are single shot weapons (derringers and TC Contenders, Encores, and so forth).

 

[Preacherman]

The word derives from the Italian "Pistola", which is in turn derived from the name of the town of Pistoia, where early handguns were made. I've seen advertisements from the 19th Century for Colt and other "revolving pistols", and the "semi-automatic pistol" of the early 20th century simply dropped the first word and became "pistol", whereas the older design dropped the last word and became "revolver".

 

[Jim K]

Just to add a note. The term "handgun" originally meant any gun that could be fired from the hands, in other words any gun other than an artillery piece. Sometime around 1950, a few purist gunwriters insisted that a distinction should be made between a pistol, which they said had only one chamber per barrel, and a revolver, which had several chambers but only one barrel. So they rejected the word "pistol" as a general term for a gun intended to be fired in one hand, and invented a new term, "handgun".

Eventually, lawmakers took up the term and used it in legislation in place of "pistol"; some laws were even changed to use the new term.

Actually, "pistol" is a perfectly good term for any handgun and has ample historical validity.

Jim

 

[Feanaro]

As I see it, pistol refers to a handgun of any sort. It's pretty much a synonym for handgun. Revolver and Autoloader seem like better words for the two main classes of pistols, as they quickly and accurately describe the respective mechanisms.

 

[Series 70]

I've read some historical fiction (good source, I know) that refer to 'revolving pistols'. Perhaps that was shortened to 'revolver'? I agree that all handguns are correctly called pistols.

 

[Grump]

Can a Pistol be a Revolver?

Yes, if you are shooting it from within the drum of an operating clothes dryer.

 

[Onmilo]

Yes, a pistol can be a revolver.
Modern firearm terminology favors the term pistol to be applied to semi-automatic firearms and the term revolver to be used when describing, well, revolvers.

"I drew my pistol, a Smith and Wesson model 642 revolver, and carefully approached the bedroom door,,,,"

 

[Dave R]

We just hashed this through in another thread recently.

Pistol=handgun.

There are revolving pistols. There are semi-auto pistol. They're both pistols. They're both subsets of the term "pistol'.

Anything else is revisionist re-invention of our wonderful shooting lingo.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

ATF, however, calls any handgun with a chamber integral to the barrel a "pistol" and anything with a separate chamber a "revolver." 'Course we all know how expert ATF is....

Hmmm......so a Ruger Hawkeye is a revolver?

 

[45 Fu]

Pistol vs. Revolver

This came up at TFL recently. My position is that, while they are both similar in may ways, they are different enough to warrant their own catagory under the class of "handgun."

A revolver would be any handgun that uses a cylinder to hold the rounds until it rotates, bringing new round into battery.

A pistol is any handgun that is not a revolver. This would include auto-loaders, single shots, derringers, etc.

I believe this is necessary to keep everyone on the same page and talking about the same thing without letting things become so clouded that we end up in a discussion where everyone is talking about different things (the ever elusive "knowckdown power") but no one knows it. Take clips and magazines, for example. Even though many now use these terms interchangably, it can lead to confusion (and it is a real pet peeve for me).

Language is useless unless it can effectively communicate meaning and when we let the meaning become muddled we do not do ourselves or newbies any favors.

Just my .02 for the day.

 

[CAS700850]

Okay, this thread just begged me to jump in, so here goes. I'm involved in prosecution of criminal cases in Ohio. I recently read a report in which the victim referred to the police officer's "Glock semi-automatic service revolver" while the officer referred to it as his "duty pistol." The first bad guy was armed with, per the victim, an "over and under pistol", described by the officer as a "two shot derringer-type pistol". the second bad guy was armed with "a snubbie barreled revolver" or, as described by the officer as a "short barrelled revolver pistol."

Can everyone understand what three guns we are talking about? If so, relax about the terminology. Refer to revolvers as revolvers, semi-automatics as such, and remember that magazines hold ammunition, clips hold papers.