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 .
Status
Not open for further replies.
Just about every website for manufacturers that make both revolvers and autoloaders categorize them as "revolver" and "pistol".

See the above images.
Click to expand...

Because people misuse words does not make them correct terminology. For instance, I might invite you to my home, residence, domicile, house, apartment, condo or townhome. I will not invite you to my "crib". :barf:

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?
Click to expand...

Where's the Bull---- flag?
You can come up with 'centuries old definitions' for many things if you think about it. "Toilet" isn't exactly a new word. Nor is Fork or knife. Last I looked, balloon was at least a century old.

Because "common use" today segregates revolver from "pistol" does not mean the usage is strictly correct. How many people say they need to buy a "box of shells" for their 9mm? That's incorrect too. So is saying a "box of bullets" unless you intend to use them with your reloading gear. A box of ammunition or cartridges is correct. We tend to be sloppy with our language at times and we should be mindful of how that often confuses things over time.
 
Just because common usage dumbs down words doesn't mean it changes their meaning (except for those doing the dumbing).
Click to expand...

In fact, words and their meanings have been evolving in exactly this way--through common usage (or mis-usage, at first)--for thousands of years. To cite a contemporary example, these days most people will say something like, "She fell and scraped her knees on the cement sidewalk." The proper word is "concrete," but over time the distinction has been largely lost, because the language has been "dumbed down," or dulled in its precision, by innocent ignorance. The common misuse of "bullet" for "cartridge," as BillCA points out, is very similar.

The study of etymology affords scholars many, many of examples of ordinary words that acquired new meanings through repeated careless or mistaken use. We do not recognize these today, because the original "dumbing down," or erroneous application of the word, occurred centuries ago. And it kept on occurring until eventually it became accepted as "correct."

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

My Webster's Third (Unabridged) Dictionary provides this entry as the second definition for pistol: "a handgun whose chamber is integral with the barrel--distinguished from revolver."
 
Last edited:
WESHOOT2 said:
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).
Click to expand...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pistol
Main Entry: pis·tol
Pronunciation: \ˈpis-təl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French pistole, from German, from Middle High German pischulle, from Czech pištět to squeak
Date: circa 1570
1: a handgun whose chamber is integral with the barrel ; broadly : handgun
2: a notably sharp, spirited, or energetic person
— pistol transitive verb
Click to expand...
 
The proper word is "concrete," but over time the distinction has been largely lost, because the language has been "dumbed down," or dulled in its precision, by innocent ignorance.
Click to expand...

Don't tell an engineer or a mason that! That would be like telling an engineer or an iron worker that "steel is just the same thing as iron".
 
A distinction that I find mildly interesting is that the misuse of "pistol" to exclude revolvers by arbitrarily adding the requirement for the chamber to be integral with the barrel narrows its applicability. Conversely, it seems that most evolutions of meaning incorporate the broadening of applicability - as in extending the meaning of clip to include the function of a magazine. Or cement to describe concrete, etc.

That distinction aside, the arguments for the acceptability of misusing pistol are much like those often used to justify the misuse of clip: appeals to authority, whether it be manufacturers (Marlin is often cited as a mainstream user of clip for magazine) or US Code via BATFE in the case of pistol.

Another distinction is that a dictionary definition of clip that makes us cringe is just a bad dictionary but that which defines a pistol as not including revolvers is, somehow, more authoritative.

Cambridge Dictionary of American English said:
clip (GUN PART)
[Show phonetics]
noun [C]
a container holding bullets and that is put into a gun
Click to expand...

Yet another minor distinction that I find interesting is that the arguments involving the misuse of clip generally propose the use of clip as acceptable whereas the arguments proposing the misuse of "pistol" leap well past acceptability into proposing its use as preferred or correct.

I only find etymology fascinating in relatively small doses but I will confess to wondering how long it will take before the use of clip for magazine goes past "acceptable" into "correct". Probably not that long.
 
What is the Difference Between Concrete and Cement?

"The difference between concrete and cement is that concrete contains cement plus sand and gravel. In fact it is the cement that binds the sand and gravel, or crushed rock, together to form what we call concrete. Concrete then, is more than just cement.

"Cement is made from limestone, calcium, silicon, iron and aluminum, plus lesser amounts of other ingredients. This mixture is heated in large kilns to about 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,482 degrees Celsius) to form a product called clinkers, which roughly resemble marbles. These are ground to a powder and gypsum is added, creating the gray flour-like substance known as cement. When water is added to cement, a chemical process occurs as it dries, allowing it to harden.

"Concrete is a masonry material that uses cement to bind together crushed stone, rock and sand. Cement makes up about 10% - 15% of the total mass of concrete."

-- http:/ww.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-concrete-and-cement.htm
 
Round and round we go...

Seems like it is time to agree to disagree and move on to other topics.

I'll continue to use pistol & revolver to mean two different types of handguns, but I guess we shouldn't correct anyone who doesn't, since it depends on whose definition we use.
 
A distinction that I find mildly interesting is that the misuse of "pistol" to exclude revolvers by arbitrarily adding the requirement for the chamber to be integral with the barrel narrows its applicability. Conversely, it seems that most evolutions of meaning incorporate the broadening of applicability
Click to expand...

Well, the first definition in Webster's Third is: "a short firearm intended to be aimed and fired with one hand: revolver." The second definition provided ("...whose chamber is integral with the barrel") broadens the use of the word while at the same time restricting its meaning. Both usages are currently common, hence the confusion.

We should keep in mind that dictionaries, by and large, are descriptive and not prescriptive references. That is, they are written to describe and record widely accepted current uses of a given word, not necessarily to advance those uses as "correct."
 
Last edited:
As intoneded in another post, the way we speak and use words says alot about the way we do things. It also says much for how we esteem things, to include concepts and ideas. As I tell my fellows at work, the 2nd Amendment is more important to me than possession of a firearm. The mention of Orwell's (my favourite author) NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR is a very good case in point. //// I can only lament everytime my brother refers to a magazine as a clip (he was an armorer in the Air Force, for heaven's sake!). I always use the term pistol for both semi-automatics [pistols] and revolvers - I never use the word handgun. I place that word in the same vein as the use of "crib". The best we can do is speak deliberately and hope others catch on. Until then, maintain your standard in a polite way.

- JKHolman
 
If people who don't know, such as media or non gun people, use the terms interchangably, that is out of ignorance.
Click to expand...
I suppose the NRA is ignorant of gun nomenclature then?
We don't use century old definitions elsewhere, why would we use them here?
Click to expand...
We use century old definitions regularly where appropriate. I have seen no reason to suggest that calling a revolver a pistol is not appropriate at this time.
 
Revolvers been called a pistol(pistola) before semi-auto was ever developed. Shouldn`t this thread read "is semi-auto a pistol" :p?
 
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?
Click to expand...
Disagree.
My American Heritage Second College Edition's first definition says: Revolver n 1. A pistol having a revolving cylinder with several cartridge chambers.

It's from 1985, not 100 years ago.

What does the letter "P" in "ACP" stand for? Seen many ACP revolvers lately?
Click to expand...
That's Automatic Colt Pistol, and yes, I've seen many revolvers in .45 ACP. Haven't you?
 
Last edited:
All this thread proves is that we all have waaaaaayyyyy too much time on our hands. BTW, Colt's original patent was for a revolving pistol! I'd guess that somewhere along the line someone got too lazy to say "semi-automatic pistol." Also, for the semantics Nazis out there: From Colt's Website:

http://www.coltsmfg.com/cmci/revolvers.asp

Colt Revolvers
Colt Single Action Army
.45 Long Colt caliber details:p
 
"Is a revolver a pistol?"



I sure hope thay are since I carry a revolver with my "Concealed Pistol Licence".
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top