Handguns

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Charter Arms revolver

Courtesy of Forensic Technology Inc.
Gunsights Pro 3.0

The term handgun refers to all firearms designed to be capable of firing with one hand. There are two general types of handguns - revolvers and pistols.

Revolvers are handguns with a cylinder containing several chambers arranged to rotate around an axis and discharge successively using the same firing mechanism. The number of chambers ranges between five and nine, typically six.

Gold cut trophy pistol

Courtesy of Forensic Technology Inc.
Gunsights Pro 3.0

The most common revolver types are

single action,
double action.

Pistols are handguns with a chamber that is an integral part of the barrel. Pistols do not have rotating cylinders.

There are three types of pistol:

Semiautomatic
Full automatic
Single- and multibarreled

Semi- and full automatic are by design autoloading firearms.

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