A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six cartridges, before needing to be reloaded, revolvers are commonly called six shooters or sixguns. Due to their rotating cylinder mechanism, they may also be called wheel guns.
A derringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. It is not to be confused with mini-revolvers or pocket pistols, although some later derringers were manufactured with the pepperbox configuration. The modern derringer is often multi barreled, and is generally the smallest usable handgun of any given caliber and barrel length due to the lack of a moving action, which takes up more space behind the barrel. It is frequently used by women because it is easily concealable in a purse or a stocking.
A semi-automatic pistol is a repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired, but only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled. The pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset manually, unlike the self-cycled firing mechanism in fully automatic pistols.
The Colt Single Action Army is a single-action revolver handgun. It was designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company and was adopted as the standard-issued revolver of the U.S. Army from 1873 to 1892.
Ethan Allen was a major American arms maker from Massachusetts. He is unrelated to the revolutionary Ethan Allen. His first firearm, the "Pocket rifle" was developed in 1836, and his first patent was granted in 1837.
A ramrod is a metal or wooden device used with muzzleloading firearms to push the projectile up against the propellant. The ramrod was used with weapons such as muskets and cannons and was usually held in a notch underneath the barrel.
An automatic revolver also known as semi-automatic revolver, is a revolver that uses the recoil energy of firing for cocking the hammer and revolving the cylinder, rather than using manual operations to perform these actions. As semi-automatic firearms, the shooter must manually operate the trigger to discharge each shot.
Charles-François Galand (1832–1900) was a French gunsmith who worked in Liège, Belgium, and Paris, France. He manufactured many revolvers for civilian and military use, including the Galand Revolver, the Tue Tue, and the tiny Le Novo. The Velo-dog, developed from the Tue Tue and the Novo, was designed by Charles-François' son René in 1904.
Harrington & Richardson Arms Company is an American brand of firearms and a subsidiary of JJE Capital Holdings. H&R ceased independent production February 27, 2015.
In breechloading firearms, an extractor is an action component that serves to remove spent casings of previously fired cartridges from the chamber, in order to vacate the chamber for loading a fresh round of ammunition.
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long barreled gun which typically is intended to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns are single-shot pistols, the two most common types of handguns used in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols.
In firearms, the cylinder is the cylindrical, rotating part of a revolver containing multiple chambers, each of which is capable of holding a single cartridge. The cylinder rotates (revolves) around a central axis in the revolver's action to sequentially align each individual chamber with the barrel bore for repeated firing. Each time the gun is cocked, the cylinder indexes by one chamber. Serving the same function as a rotary magazine, the cylinder stores ammunitions within the revolver and allows it to fire multiple times, before needing to be reloaded.
The Colt Paterson revolver was the first commercial repeating firearm employing a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel. Its design was patented by Samuel Colt on February 25, 1836, in the United States, England and France, and it derived its name from being produced in Paterson, New Jersey. The revolutionary design inspired the popular phrase of the time, "God created men, Col. Colt made them equal". Initially this 5 shot revolver was produced in .28 caliber, with a .36 caliber model following a year later. As originally designed and produced, no loading lever was included with the revolver; a user had to partially disassemble the revolver to re-load it. Starting in 1839, however, a reloading lever and a capping window were incorporated into the design, allowing reloading without disassembly. This loading lever and capping window design change was also incorporated after the fact into most Colt Paterson revolvers that had been produced from 1836 until 1839. Unlike later revolvers, a folding trigger was incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger became visible only upon cocking the hammer.
The Model 1892 revolver is a French service revolver produced by Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne as a replacement for the MAS 1873 revolver. It was the standard issue sidearm for officers in the French military during the First World War.
The Rast & Gasser M1898 is a double-action, solid-frame revolver that served as the standard sidearm for the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1898 to 1918, including during World War I. It was chambered for the 8mm Gasser cartridge, which was specifically designed for this revolver. The M1898 was manufactured by the Austrian firm Rast & Gasser and remained in service throughout the war due to its durability and reliability under harsh conditions.
The Tranter revolver was a double-action cap & ball revolver invented around 1856 by English firearms designer William Tranter (1816–1890). Originally operated with a special dual-trigger mechanism later models employed a single-trigger mechanism much the same as that found in the contemporary Beaumont–Adams revolver.
The Webley Royal Irish Constabulary revolver is a British double-action, centerfire cartridge revolver designed in 1867. It was one of the earliest British breachloading revolvers and one of the most popular British revolvers of the 19th century.
A repeating firearm or repeater is any firearm that is designed for multiple, repeated firings before the gun has to be reloaded with new ammunition.
The Adams revolver, also known as the Deane-Adams revolver, is a black powder, double-action, percussion revolver. Introduced in 1851, it was the first revolver designed and produced in the United Kingdom. It was heavily used by British officers during the Crimean War (1853–1856) and the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It was the precursor of the more advanced Beaumont-Adams revolver, designed in 1856. After 1867, the production of breechloading Adams revolvers began, and many existing Adams and Beaumont-Adams revolvers were converted to breechloaders, using .450 Boxer centerfire cartridges. From 1872 to 1880, these revolvers were adopted as the official sidearms of the British Army and Navy and were in use until the 1880s.
Webley Longspur is an early British percussion revolver, patented in 1853. The first revolver of the later famous British factory Webley&Son, it was an open frame, 5-shot, single action revolver. It was a solid and popular weapon at the time, although it faced heavy competition from already established, popular Colt's and Adams revolvers.
