A revolver is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses 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.
In firearms terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a breech-loading firearm that handles the ammunition cartridges, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically not present on muzzleloaders, as all those are single-shot firearms with a closed off breech with the powder and projectile manually loaded from the muzzle. Instead, the muzzleloader ignition mechanism is referred to as the lock.
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.
The M1901 Mannlicher Self-Loading, Semi-Automatic Pistol was an early semi-automatic pistol design. The Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology in Koblenz has one of these specimen in its collection.
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.
The Nagant M1895 is a seven-shot, gas-seal revolver designed and produced by Belgian industrialist Léon Nagant for the Russian Empire.
The Colt Army Model 1860 is a cap & ball .44-caliber single-action revolver used during the American Civil War made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was used as a side arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops, and naval forces.
The Ruger Blackhawk is a six-shot, single-action revolver manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. It is produced in a variety of finishes, calibers, and barrel lengths.
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long barreled gun which needs 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, although other handguns such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.
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 Steyr M1912, also known as the Steyr-Hahn, is a semi-automatic pistol that was developed in 1911 by the Austrian firm Steyr Mannlicher, based on the mechanism of the Roth–Steyr M1907. It was developed for the Austro-Hungarian Army and adopted in 1912. It was the standard Austro-Hungarian military handgun of World War I. It was able to endure the adverse conditions of trench warfare during World War I.
The Roth–Steyr M1907, or, more accurately Roth-Krnka M.7 was a semi-automatic pistol issued to the Austro-Hungarian kaiserliche und königliche Armee cavalry during World War I. It was the first adoption of a semi-automatic service pistol by the army of a major military power.
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 Gasser M1870 was a revolver chambered for 11.3×36mmR and was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian cavalry in 1870. It was an open-frame model, with the barrel unit attached to the frame by a screw beneath the cylinder arbor. The arbor pin was screwed into the barrel unit and fitted into a recess in the standing breech. The cylinder was gate-loaded from the right side, and a rod ejector was carried beneath the barrel. A unique safety bar will usually be found on the right of the frame, below the cylinder. This carries pins which pass through holes in the frame to engage the lock mechanism. Slightly retracting the hammer allows one of these pins to move inward, preventing the hammer moving forward again when released. The pistol can thereafter be carried safely when loaded. Pressure on the trigger withdraws the pin from the path of the hammer before firing. The M1870 Gasser became the Austro-Hungarian cavalry revolver. It chambered a long 11.25 millimetres (0.443 in) centerfire cartridge which had earlier been used in Fruwirth carbines.
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 Mauser C78 - also known as M78 Oberndorf - is a single-action revolver manufactured by the Mauser company in Oberndorf am Neckar during the late 19th century. It was the first German revolver to be mass-produced for modern center-fire cartridges. It was also called the "zig-zag" in reference to the design of the six-round zig-zag-grooved cylinder and was chambered in various 6 mm to 11 mm calibers.
The Röhm RG-14 is a double-action, six-shot revolver chambered in .22, formerly manufactured and sold by Röhm Gesellschaft of Sontheim/Brenz, Germany. It is notable for being the model of firearm used by John Hinckley Jr. to shoot Ronald Reagan on 30 March 1981. Until 1968, the guns were manufactured in Germany. The Gun Control Act of 1968 prevented their import unto the US, so subsequently they were manufactured at a Röhm factory in Miami.
Adams revolver, also known as Deane-Adams revolver, is a black powder, double-action, percussion revolver. Introduced in 1851, it was the first revolver designed and produced in United Kingdom. It was heavily used by British officers during the Crimean War (1853–1856) and the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It was the precursor of more advanced Beaumont-Adams revolver, designed in 1856. After 1867 the production of breachloading Adams revolvers began, and many existing Adams and Beaumont-Adams revolvers were converted to breachloaders, using .450 Boxer centerfire cartridges. From 1872 to 1880, these revolvers were adopted as official sidearms of the British Army and Navy and were in use until the 1880s.
Austria-Hungary 