Mike Irwin
Staff
"So which is it?"
In reality, both.
All inclusive AND exclusive, depending on how you've been educated on the term.
In reality, both.
All inclusive AND exclusive, depending on how you've been educated on the term.
The term "military hand guns" as used here, implies revolvers and pistols which have been standardized by Ordnance Committee action and for which ordnance drawings and gauges are available. The number of of hand gun models required for military use is small, if the standardized models are available in sufficient quantity.
(a) US Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1
(b) Revolver, Caliber .38 Special, with 4" barrel. (This might be either the Colt "Commando" or the Smith and Wesson "Military and Police".)
(c) Pistol, Automatic, Caliber .22, Colt "Service Ace".
(d) Revolver, Caliber .38 Special, Colt "Detective Special".
and there is no such thing as an "assault weapon".
As Tipoc said, I think the change in usage occurred around WWII. But that doesn't change the fact that a revolver (as in revolving cylinder or chamber) is a type of pistol.
He doesn't refer to semi-autos as "automatics" for simplicity's sake. He does so because that's what they were called at that time in our history. The "automatic" part referred only to the loading, not to the entire firing cycle, but Colt ran numerous ads in the early part of the 20th century for "automatic" pistols in calibers from .25 ACP up through .45 ACP.tipoc said:In Walter Ropers 1945 book "Pistol and Revolver Shooting" Roper makes the modern distinction of dividing handguns into three groups...single shot pistols, revolvers and semiauto pistols. He often refers to the latter as automatics for simplicity's sake.
All handguns are pistols. Some are single shot, some are revolvers, some are semi-automatic, and a few are automatic.
Yes, but do you know what "bore diameter" measures? A lot of Internet Experts don't.