Man Behind The Guns

Types of Handguns

2008-04-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

The general types of handguns are listed below in their order of historical appearance. Each type can be classified into many subtypes. Some of these types can also be differently classified using the general distinction between muzzle-loading firearms (loading from the front of the barrel) and breech-loading firearms (loading from behind the barrel).

Single-shot pistols

Western European handgun, 1380. 18 cm-long and weighing 1.04 kg, it was fixed to a wooden pole to facilitate manipulation. Musée de l'Armée.Single-shot pistols are the theoretically simplest pistols. The earliest handguns were single-shot, muzzle-loading guns with ignition provided by inserting a smoldering match cord into a touch hole. As such, they were essentially nothing more than miniature cannons, small enough to be handheld.
Improvements followed in subsequent centuries, as various types of locks (ignition devices) were invented. In the matchlock, the separate match cord was affixed to a spring-loaded pivot which could be tripped by a trigger. In the wheellock, a mechanism analogous to that used in today's cigarette lighters replaced the smoldering match cord. In the 17th century, the flintlock, which strikes a flint against steel, appeared. (The flintlock, amazingly, remained state-of-the-art for some two hundred years.) In the 19th century, percussion caps were developed, followed shortly by modern integrated-primer cartridges, and hammers therefore traded their flint for firing pins.
Single-shot pistols are not completely things of the past, as they have continued to be built (for various reasons) throughout the breech-loading era. However, for most applications, the single-shot handgun has been replaced by revolvers and semi-automatic pistols.

Multi-barreled pistols

Not long after the very beginning of firearms, inventors began experimenting with multi-barreled weapons in the quest for the ability to fire more than one shot before needing to reload. Not surprisingly, all types of firearms were included in their efforts, from volley guns to analogously devised handguns. Before anyone developed a practical capability for delivering multiple loads to one barrel in quick succession (which is how repeat fire is usually accomplished today), they were aggregating multiple loaded barrels into one place.

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Bullet Designs

2008-04-23T01:51:00.000-07:00

Bullet designs have to solve two primary problems. They must first form a seal with the gun's bore. The worse the seal, the more gas, generated by the rapid combustion of the propellant charge, leaks past the bullet, reducing the efficiency. The bullet must also engage the rifling without damaging the gun's bore. Bullets must have a surface which will form this seal without causing excessive friction. What happens to a bullet inside the bore is termed internal ballistics. A bullet must also be consistent with the next bullet so that shots may be fired precisely.
Once it leaves the barrel, it is governed by external ballistics. Here, the bullet's shape is important for aerodynamics, as is the rotation imparted by the rifling. Rotational forces stabilize the bullet gyroscopically as well as aerodynamically. Any asymmetry in the bullet is largely cancelled as it spins. With smooth-bore firearms, a spherical shape was optimum because no matter how it was oriented, it presented a uniform front. These unstable bullets tumbled erratically, but the aerodynamic shape changed little giving moderate accuracy. Generally, bullet shapes are a compromise between aerodynamics, interior ballistics necessities, and terminal ballistics requirements. Another method of stabilization is for the center of mass of the bullet to be as far forward as practical as in the minnie ball or the shuttlecock. This allows the bullet to fly front-forward by means of aerodynamics.
See Terminal ballistics and/or Stopping power for an overview of how bullet design affects what happens when a bullet hits something, and how this is affected by its design. What happens to the bullet is dictated as much by what it hits and how it hits, as by the bullet itself (just like how its interaction with air was critical in external ballistics). Bullets are generally designed to penetrate, deform, and/or break apart. For a given material and bullet, which of these happens is determined especially by the strike velocity.
Actual bullet shapes are many and varied, and an array of them can be found in any reloading manual that sells bullet moulds. RCBS, one of many makers, offers many different designs, starting with the basic round ball. With a mould, bullets can be made at home for reloading one's own ammunition, where local laws allow. Hand-casting, however, is only time- and cost-effective for solid lead bullets. Cast and jacketed bullets are also commercially available from numerous manufacturers for hand loading and are much more convenient than casting bullets from bulk lead.

Revolvers

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A 1930s vintage Enfield revolver.With the development of the revolver in the 19th century, gunsmiths had finally achieved the goal of a practical capability for delivering multiple loads to one handgun barrel in quick succession. Revolvers feed ammunition via the rotation of a cartridge-filled cylinder, in which each cartridge is contained in its own ignition chamber, and is sequentially brought into alignment with the weapon's barrel by a mechanism linked to the weapon's trigger (double-action) or its hammer (single-action). These nominally cylindrical chambers, usually numbering between five and ten depending on the size of the revolver and the size of the cartridge being fired, are bored through the cylinder so that their axes are parallel to the cylinder's axis of rotation; thus, as the cylinder rotates, the chambers revolve about the cylinder's axis.
There is a hybrid form of the revolver, known as the automatic revolver, which combines the revolving chamber concept of the conventional revolver with the recoil-harnessing, self-cycling ability of the semi-automatic pistol.

Semi-automatic pistols

2008-04-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

Compact semi-automatic Smith & Wesson .45 ACP Chief's Special — Model CS45 Walther P99, a semi-automatic pistol from late 1990s Luger or P08 Parabellum, used by the German military from 1908 to 1945 (among other handgun models)The next development in handgun history after a practical revolver was the development of the semi-automatic pistol, which uses the energy of one shot to reload the chamber for the next. Typically recoil energy from a fired round is mechanically harnessed, however larger calibers may also be gas operated (e.g. Desert Eagle). After a round is fired, the pistol will cycle, ejecting the spent casing and chambering a new round from the magazine, allowing another shot to take place immediately.
Some terms that have been, or still are, used as synonyms for "semi-automatic pistol" are automatic pistol, autopistol, self-loading pistol and selfloader.

Machine pistols

2008-04-23T01:21:00.000-07:00

A machine pistol is generally defined as a firearm designed to be fired with one hand, and capable of fully automatic or selective fire. While there are a number of machine pistols such as the Glock 18 and later models of the Mauser C96, these are rare; the light weight, small size, and extremely rapid rates of fire of a machine pistol make them difficult to control, making the larger and heavier submachine gun a better choice in cases where the small size of a machine pistol is not needed. Most machine pistols can attach a shoulder stock (the Heckler & Koch VP70 would only fire single rounds at a time unless the stock was attached); others, such as the Beretta 93R, add a forward handgrip. Either of these additions technically create a legal non-pistol under the US National Firearms Act, as pistols are by definition designed to be fired with one hand. The addition of a stock or forward handgrip is considered a design change that creates either a short-barreled rifle or any other weapon, and therefore such additions are generally only found on legal machine guns.

Operating Mechanisms

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Single-action (SA) handguns have a trigger whose sole function is to drop a pre-cocked hammer to discharge a cartridge. For revolvers, the popular Colt Peacemaker of Old West fame is typically thought of. Its hammer must be manually cocked for each shot. For auto-loading pistols the Colt 1911 or Browning Hi-Power are typical examples. They must be cocked for the first shot, but subsequent shots are cocked automatically. These types of guns typically have a very light and crisp trigger pull, making for more accurate target shooting.
Jericho 941 F (DA), 9 mm with magazine removedTraditional double-action (DA) handguns have a mechanism that can be either pre-cocked, like the above single-action gun, or can be fired with the gun uncocked. In this case, the gun has an additional mechanism added to the trigger that will cock the gun (and rotate the cylinder in the case of revolvers) as the trigger is pulled. Once the trigger is pulled far enough, the hammer is released and the gun fired. For autoloading pistols the self-loading mechanism will also re-cock the hammer after the first shot is fired so that subsequent shots are fired single-action. For revolvers, each shot is fired with the hammer initially uncocked unless the shooter manually cocked the gun. Popular auto pistols in this category include the Walther P38 and Beretta 92. These guns typically have a longer, heavier trigger pull for the first shot then light, crisp pulls for subsequent shots. Popular revolvers include the Ruger Redhawk and Smith & Wesson Model 629. These have comparatively long, heavy trigger pulls for all shots unless the revolver is manually cocked.
Double-action only (DAO) handguns do not have the ability to be cocked and is usually evidenced by a lack of either the hammer spur or the entire hammer. A typical autopistol in this category is the Ruger KP93DAO and Taurus Millennium, and a typical revolver is the Smith & Wesson Centennial. All pistols in this category have a long, heavy trigger pull for all shots.
Pre-set triggers are only on autoloading pistols. In this case the pistol mechanism is always partially cocked while being carried and during firing. The partially-cocked firing pin or striker is not cocked enough to cause an accidental release to discharge a cartridge, adding to the safeness of the design, but is cocked enough to remove much of the trigger pull and weight of a purely double-action pistol. These types of pistols do not have external hammers and do not generally have a decock function. Common pistols in the category are the Springfield Armory XD and the various forms of the extremely popular Glock. The trigger pull of these guns is between double-action and single-action pistols. Pre-set triggers may or may not have a second-strike feature on a dud cartridge.
Some automatic pistol models such as the HK USP Universal Self-loading Pistol come in a variety of mechanism types and can be easily changed by a gunsmith for both left- and right-handed shooters and for different operating mechanism and safety features.
Glock introduced a new "Safe Action" mechanism that is neither a single nor double action.[7] The action is not cocked, rather the firing pin is pulled back by the trigger, resulting in the first and subsequent trigger pulls all being the same and the weapon also being safer.

Semi-automatic pistols vs. revolvers

2008-04-22T23:57:00.000-07:00

Both revolvers and semi-automatic pistols have prominent places in the world of handgun applications today. For over a century, however, a debate has continued as to which one is better for which particular application and why. Each has its place, although personal preference is as large a factor as the following variables:
reliability (likelihood of jams; how to recover from jams; how to recover from misfires) degree of user training needed degree and frequency of gun cleaning needed ammo capacity speed and ease of reloading bulkiness with regard to concealment weight center of gravity storage issues

Advantages of revolvers

Colt King Cobra revolver.Easier to cycle to next round in the unlikely event of a failure/blockage: all that is needed is a pull of the trigger, while in semi-autos one must rack the slide, which takes the pistol out of the shooting position. See Tap Rack Bang. The inherent simplicity of revolvers allows for a sturdier design. Thus, more powerful cartridges are available: the largest and most powerful handgun rounds are rimmed rounds for revolvers only. Revolvers will easily fire blank ammunition. Most semi-autos will not fully cycle with blank cartridges, causing jams. (Semi-auto pistols must be specially modified to properly cycle with blank ammunition, as in the case of prop weapons for cinema) Spent cartridges are kept in the cylinder whereas a pistol ejects them. This is useful for reloaders and eliminates forensic evidence (and litter). Revolvers and speedloaders can be stored loaded indefinitely with no issues. Auto-pistol magazines have springs under tension when loaded. These springs may weaken and fail to load the cartridges effectively if the magazine has been stored loaded for long periods. The simplicity that is inherent of revolvers' design allows for the chambering of cartridges with unusual loads, an ideal capability for many sport shooters. Additionally, they can load certain interchangable cartridges, those with identical calibers but different case lengths. Interchangeable cartridges include .22 short/long/long rifle, .357 magnum/.38 special, .44 magnum/.44 special. Sights are mounted to a fixed barrel, theoretically allowing greater accuracy. Easier to determine if loaded: bullets in a loaded revolver are readily apparent. An unloaded semi-automatic is often visually identical to a loaded one.

Advantages of semi-automatics

Larger ammo capacity: semi-automatics typically carry 7 to 17 rounds; most revolvers carry only 6 rounds, although some carry 7, 8 or even up to 10 in .22 caliber. Some jurisdictions limit the magazine capacity on handguns to 10 rounds, largely negating this advantage in these places. Faster to reload: magazines are faster to load, easier to use and more ergonomic to carry than speedloaders. Flash and noise can be suppressed. (Noise and flash suppressors are ineffective in most revolvers due to noise and flash escaping the gap between the cylinder and the barrel.) Less expensive ammunition: semi-autos often fire standard military ammunition, which is more readily available and cheaper thanks to extensive mass production. Have a significantly slimmer and easier to conceal frame as they do not suffer from the bulge produced by the revolver's cylinder. Some contemporary automatics are made of light-weight materials, (such as polymer) making them lighter and more comfortable to carry for long periods. The nature of most semi-auto's operation makes the trigger pull much easier after the first round is fired, allowing for quick and accurate follow-up shots. Revolvers will always have strong trigger pulls unless the hammer is cocked before each shot, which greatly slows the shooter's rate of fire. Automatics include safety switches/devices to help prevent accidents.