Is a Revolver a Pistol?

Is a Revolver a Pistol?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 203 69.8%

  • No.

    Votes: 88 30.2%
  • Total voters
    291
  • Poll closed .
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The term "handgun" was not used until about 1950, when some purists insisted (as many do here) that a revolver was not a pistol and that a term was needed to cover both as well as single shot pistols and the like. So some writers used (or maybe coined) the word "handgun". Gradually, the term came to be used in law and general writing. Up to that point, many gun laws used the term "pistol", as for example banning the carrying of "pistols" without a license. In case you wonder, quite a few people paid fines or went to jail for carrying revolvers; judges didn't nitpick esoteric terminology.

So if your state law still refers to "pistols", I strongly suggest you not do what ever you shouldn't do and then argue that you used a revolver and the law doesn't apply.

Jim
 
Revolvers and autoloaders are both two differen't types of pistols. Before autoloaders were even around revolvers and any other gun held by one hand was and is a pistol.
 
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Just about every website for manufacturers that make both revolvers and autoloaders categorize them as "revolver" and "pistol".

See the above images.
 
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And just about every website for grip manufacturers calls them pistol grips when referring to revolvers. The NRA uses the term pistol to refer to revolvers as well as autoloaders. The Practical Pistol Course for LE was a revolver course. Way too much precedent for revolvers being pistols to just toss it aside, IMO.
 
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Yes, a revolver is a pistol. Pistol refers to a handgun. In Colt's original patent application, he listed the design as a "revolving cylinder pistol".

From The Russian:
ACP, transliterates to Avtomat Cartouch Para-Bellum." "Auto- Cartridge For War (military".) (Actually it is "Kartouch", but most Russkyi military-types know ACP.)
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Whay a bunch of Hooey!!!!:rolleyes: ACP is a trademarked acronym for Automatic Colt Pistol.

Besides, Avtomat refers to an automatic piece of machinery in Russian, Cartouch is French, and Para Bellum is Latin. What school did you go to? BSU?
 
Just about every website for manufacturers that make both revolvers and autoloaders categorize them as "revolver" and "pistol".

See the above images.
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aww....you left out Colt:rolleyes: how could you leave them out of this?

im holding at:
all handguns are held in the hand primarily, by design. revolvers and pistols (for those in the know)
revolvers have a revolving cylinder.(which is why they were given that name to differentiate them from earlier pistols)
pistols(handguns with the chamber integral to the barrel) can be further broken down into autos, lever actions, bolt actions, single shot, derringers....and any i might have forgotten with the chamber integral to the barrel.

but i usually know what you guys mean when you say pistol.
 
According to the SASSwire guys, Colt's can't get their naming conventions straight.

Note the .45 LONG Colt chambering in the revolver.

Personally, I'm of the view they invented it - they can call it anything they please but try starting a thread with "45 Long Colt" in the title and somebody will be along to correct it.
 
Great post Sturmgewehre (#63)

I was thinking of doing the same thing.

Sam Colt may have considered a revolver a pistol 140 years ago, but that is not the case now.

Ruger doesn't consider revolvers pistols, neither do S&W, Colt, or even Taurus.

Technically, revolvers are no longer pistols. Those who say they are are using a century old definition. We don't use century old definitions elsewhere, why would we use them here?

If people who don't know, such as media or non gun people, use the terms interchangably, that is out of ignorance.
 
my guess is marketing department called them the amazing newfangled revolving pistol so folks on the internet would know what they were talking about. eventually the pistol collectors sued over it all for trademark infringement.

years later Colt also invented the .45 caliber beer.
 
If people who don't know, such as media or non gun people, use the terms interchangably, that is out of ignorance.
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Two part question for you Smaug:

1. If the "chamber integral with barrel" modern and correct definition of a pistol was written by gun banners would that change your opinion any?

2. Exactly who modified the definition of a pistol to exclude revolvers?
 
If people who don't know, such as media or non gun people, use the terms interchangably, that is out of ignorance.
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No it isn't. Anyone "in the know" actually knows that all revolvers are pistols but not all pistols are revolvers. A knowledgeable person would know that they're referred to as pistols and revolvers in order to make the distinction between the two pistols.

In order to avoid confusion, it's common to refer to the Commander as the Lightweight Commander (no such critter) in order to distinguish it from the Combat Commander with the all steel frame.

Confusion was also avoided by referring to the .45 Colt as the Long Colt to distinguish it from the .45 Schofield which was shorter, and fit the Colt single action. The longer .45 Colt wouldn't fit the Schofield. There actually is no .45 Long Colt, although one manufacturer did put .45 Long Colt on their ammo boxes.

There's also confusion re: ACP which stands for Automatic Colt Pistol. The term refers to the automatic LOADING capability of the pistol and not the automatic firing capability that the pistol doesn't have.

And there's the Pistol vs. Revolver issue which has obviously caused more confusion than is really necessary given that both are pistols and people want to argue about that and redefine what was refined many decades ago.:cool:
 
Just as a minor point of clarification - there were two threads running on this topic - the other started out noting that the ATF defined a pistol as "chamber integral with barrel".

And, surely the ATF didn't pull it from between their cheeks - it is so defined in U.S. Code.

The question was raised: "How'd it get in U.S.C.?" Nothing authoritative surfaced - conjecture includes GCA '68.

So, there's really no argument that the ATF / U.S.C. says revolvers aren't pistols.

The question is whether that means anything.

I'm hesitant to give it any credence over the old established definition.

If we start insisting that the "correct" definition is the one in USC, we're not going to be able to stop at "pistol" - we'll have to embrace "semi-automatic assault weapon" which remains in USC.

Or to put the question another way: is the current US definition of a pistol as bogus as "semi automatic assault weapon" and is something that simply gained traction because it's been around since 1968?

I don't know for sure but if that's how the definition got "clarified and modernized" they can keep it.
 
Technically, revolvers are no longer pistols. Those who say they are are using a century old definition. We don't use century old definitions elsewhere, why would we use them here?

If people who don't know, such as media or non gun people, use the terms interchangably, that is out of ignorance.
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Not so.

Two things are true, and, unfortunately, they are somewhat contradictory:

1. A revolver is, by definition, a pistol.

2. In recent decades the term "pistol" has been used increasingly to distinguish a revolver from a semi-automatic pistol.

The truth is that the language is constantly evolving, and over time the meanings of certain words change. In the same way, some words acquire new meanings. These changes are cultural and ungovernable, and they occur through usage; that is, through popular, repeated use and acceptance.

The word "nice," for instance, used to be an insult. In the 13th century it meant foolish or stupid. By the 18th century it meant elegant, strange, modest, thin, and shy, or coy. Now it means pleasing or thoughtful and kind.

"Silly," in the 11th century, meant blessed or happy and, as centuries went by, it meant pious, innocent, harmless, and feeble-minded. Now it means foolish or goofy.

"Pistol" is simply another word whose connotations are becoming altered by persistent usage, whether happily or annoyingly. Such changes may be decried, but they amount to linguistic climate change, and they really can't effectively be resisted.
 
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Bellevance makes good sense.

Rather depressing though. It means "clips" will indeed become interchangeable with "magazines" and, some years hence, we'll cave in on "assualt weapons" as well.
 
handgun and pistol

In my travels throughout the world the two are used interchangeably. We americans sought to make a distinction.
 
Rather depressing though. It means "clips" will indeed become interchangeable with "magazines" and, some years hence, we'll cave in on "assault weapons" as well.
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I share your frustration, Jart, but I believe that many usage violations are worth beating back, whenever it's possible--especially to preserve a key technical distinction, such as between a clip and a magazine. That's one that I comment on whenever it comes up--and the "teachable moment," as they say in the education biz, is often a positive experience for gun novice and gun aficionado alike.

As for "pistol," as many of the previous posts illustrate, it's been a lost cause for a long time. It's an odd one, though. When it was first introduced, the semi-automatic pistol was called just that. In contrast, the modern pistol had already come to be called a revolver. Once people naturally began to shorten "semi-automatic pistol" to "pistol," the die was cast.
 
English is my first language

All my dictionaries agree with me; a 'revolver' is a 'pistol'.

Just because common usage dumbs down words doesn't mean it changes their meaning (except for those doing the dumbing).
 
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