why long gun with many actions while handgun with few?

[loonie]

with the development of firearms,nowadays,autoloader became major form of handgun's action(still has muzzleloader handgun,but minority) but why long rifle has lots of actions available(bolt,semi-auto,lever,hinge...) please just for my curiosity.

 

[whm1974]

Some actions wouldn't be very partical with a handgun.

-Bill

 

[skeeter1]

Actions

Well, let me see here...

Rifles you can get in bolt-action, leverguns (my favorite), break-top (T/C Contender), falling-block, pump-action, double-barrels, drillings, and probably many more that just don't come to me right now.

For handguns, there are single-actions, double-actions, break-tops (mostly antique), semi-autos (both double and single action), derringers (again, both single and double action), Single-shots (like the T/C contender).

I don't see that there's a whole lot of difference.

 

[loonie]

I mean most of modern handgun are semi-auto while bolt-action accounts for rifle's majority.

 

[CleverName]

Well, no, you forgot both gas and recoil operated semi-auto rifles. Rotating bolt or straight bolt, roller delayed, direct impingement vs gas piston, etc.

Plus, with the bolt action there's control feed, push feed, and the occasional straight pull (K31 probably the most notable example) as well as long and short actions.

There's even a gas-operated pistol or two (I know the Desert Eagle is, for one)

 

[Outlaws]

I think we might be thinking too far into this.....

IMO the original post is reguarding handguns today come in mostly autos and revolvers. Rifles come in lever, bolt, semi. (don't kid yourselves people, I bet 1 falling block is sold for every 1000 bolt actions...and even that might be a conservative number.)

So thats basically 3 vs 2 for the main action types. That isn't too drastic.

You just have to remember, Colt and S&W basically perfected two styles of handguns, and like they say....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[akodo]

Technology that works well with a stick planted into your shoulder does not always work well regarding as stick heald at arm's length, and vice versa

Example, pump action handgun?

However, there are a lot of exotic handgun actions out there, there are hinge action and bolt action, although these gun are really 'hand rifles' rather than traditional handguns.

The Volcanic was a lever action handgun, and the predicessor of lever action rifles.

For a time there were revolving rifles, but having the cylinder gap by your face is not terribly safe

 

[Legionnaire]

Likely has something to do with intended purpose. I'm going to speculate a bit. If anybody knows a source for such statistics, we might be able to verify.

I'm guessing that the intended purpose of most hand-gun purchases (excluding military and LEO) are, sorted from largest to smallest: (1) self defense; (2) target / plinking; (3) hunting. For self-defense, a firearm will be optimized for capacity and rapid fire, giving rise to a prediminance of semi-autos, with revolvers right behind. Other actions, such as the various single-shots, would be better used for target shooting, plinking, and hunting.

In contrast, I'm guessing that (again excluding military and LEO) most rifles are sold for (1) hunting; (2) target / plinking; (3) defense. For hunting, or target shooting, capacity and rate of fire will be far less important. Generally speaking, a bolt action will be more accurate than a semi-auto, especially for the same price. So you see the many actions that are equally well suited for hunting and target shooting.

Just thinking "out loud." But I'll bet one could correlate type of action with intended use and come up with a pretty well evidenced argument such as the one above.

 

[loonie]

Likely has something to do with intended purpose. I'm going to speculate a bit. If anybody knows a source for such statistics, we might be able to verify.

I'm guessing that the intended purpose of most hand-gun purchases (excluding military and LEO) are, sorted from largest to smallest: (1) self defense; (2) target / plinking; (3) hunting. For self-defense, a firearm will be optimized for capacity and rapid fire, giving rise to a prediminance of semi-autos, with revolvers right behind. Other actions, such as the various single-shots, would be better used for target shooting, plinking, and hunting.

In contrast, I'm guessing that (again excluding military and LEO) most rifles are sold for (1) hunting; (2) target / plinking; (3) defense. For hunting, or target shooting, capacity and rate of fire will be far less important. Generally speaking, a bolt action will be more accurate than a semi-auto, especially for the same price. So you see the many actions that are equally well suited for hunting and target shooting.

Just thinking "out loud." But I'll bet one could correlate type of action with intended use and come up with a pretty well evidenced argument such as the one above.

thanks for your conclusion,I learned a lot.

 

[Jamie C.]

Example, pump action handgun?

It's been done. Sort of.



The Simmerling is a 5 shot .45 acp with a manually-operated action. The slide/barrel has to be "pumped" forward to cycle the next round.

Not my cup o' tea, but it exists, none the less.


J.C.

 

[TallPine]

i guess that there's just not that much demand for a handgun that requires two hands to operate (bolt, pump, lever, etc)

 

[GEM]

The lever action rifle started as a lever action Handgun! The Volcanic!

 

[Thefabulousfink]

Lever action pistol:

Bolt action pistol:
http://www.racprops.com/issue4/projectbr_pt2/images/gripson1.jpg

Yeah, I know it's just a prop, but it is made from a styer bolt-action.

 

[ArmedBear]

Bolt Action Pistols have been mass-produced by Remington and Savage, and perhaps others, to compete with other oddities like the T/C Contender, which of course was and is quite popular, especially for something that objectively is pretty strange.

Remington XP-100


This guy thinks that JFK was shot with one. http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/fireball1.htm

Of course, there are also double-barrel pistols currently in production. There are gas-operated semiauto pistols as well as the more common blowbacks. You can get revolving rifles again, too.

 

[ArmedBear]

BTW It's important to remember that handguns are designed to be shot with one hand. That's the point of a pistol, and always has been.

A repeating pistol that requires more than thumbing the hammer back to fire multiple shots does not meet the design criteria.

Single shots, specialty hunting and target guns can require the use of both hands, but a repeating handgun, by definition, can be operated with one (once it's loaded, anyway).

 

[zoom6zoom]

Keep in mind also that even though you might be looking at a number of semi-auto handguns, they may actually have extremely different actions under the skin. While the slide goes back and forth and hurty bits come out of the pointed end while making a loud bang, the mechanics of how it happens, in say, a Glock are different than a 1911 (or a Luger!).
While all semi-autos, they are without a doubt "different actions".

 

[mp510]

Those AOW shotguns, such as the Serbu Super Shorty's based off Mossberg and 870 actions are most certainly pump action, and seem to meet the concept of handgun, in that they are designed so that can be fired with one hand.