Pistols and revolvers: designs, calibers, notable models, safe handling and lawful ownership basics, with sources for every specification.
12 pages
Guide · Handguns
A revolver works by rotating a chambered cylinder so one chamber lines up with the barrel and firing pin before each shot. The hand turns the cylinder, the cylinder stop or latch locks it in alignment, the hammer and firing pin fire the cartridge, and the ejector rod helps remove cartridges or fired cases.
Guide · Handguns
A pistol magazine is the spring-fed part that holds cartridges and presents them for feeding into the chamber. This guide explains the basic parts, how cartridges move through a magazine, and what single-stack, double-stack and staggered-column terms mean.
Guide · Handguns
A revolver cylinder gap is a normal clearance between the cylinder and barrel. Hot gas and particles can exit there during firing, so hand placement matters.
Guide · Handguns
The Desert Eagle is a large magnum caliber semi automatic pistol best known for its gas operated rotating bolt design.50 Action Express chambering, and pop culture profile. Magnum Research traces the pistol from its 1979 origins through Israeli production by Israel Military Industries and later U.S. production in Minnesota.
Guide · Handguns
The Colt Single Action Army is the 1873 single-action, six-shot revolver best known as the Peacemaker, Colt .45, and Model P. Its military service, frontier image.45 Colt and .44-40 chamberings, and long production history make it one of the defining revolvers of American firearms history.
Guide · Handguns
The Beretta 92 is a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol family best known in the United States for its military M9 service. Its defining features include Beretta’s open-slide layout, a short recoil falling-block locking system, and standard double action and single action operation on most 92 Series models.
Guide · Handguns
The M1911 is John Moses Browning’s single action, short recoil .45 service pistol. Its M1911A1 update, long military service, and continued production by modern makers keep it one of the best known handgun designs in American firearms history.
Comparison · Handguns
A revolver stores cartridges in a rotating cylinder, while a semi-automatic pistol feeds cartridges from a magazine into a chamber at the rear of the barrel. The biggest beginner differences are how each handgun stores ammunition, cycles after firing, extracts cases, and gets reloaded.
Guide · Handguns
A 2011 is best understood as a 1911-derived pistol architecture built around a separate frame and grip module, usually with a staggered double-stack magazine. Compared with a traditional single-stack 1911, it is typically wider in the grip, holds more ammunition, and is strongly associated with competition and modern duty-style pistols.
Comparison · Handguns
Single action means the hammer is cocked before the trigger releases it. Double action means the trigger can cock and release the hammer in one pull. DA/SA, SAO, DAO, and striker fired systems use different designs and procedures, so the manual for the exact handgun matters.
Guide · Handguns
.357 Magnum is a higher pressure revolver cartridge that began in 1935 through Western’s collaboration with Smith & Wesson. It is closely tied to .38 Special, but the safe interchangeability rule runs one way: .38 Special can generally be used in .357 Magnum firearms, not the reverse.
Comparison · Handguns
9mm Luger has a higher SAAMI maximum average pressure and cost less in the sampled Federal American Eagle listing. .45 Auto uses a heavier bullet in the sampled Federal load and is closely tied to the M1911. In the full size Glock examples listed here, the G17 Gen5 MOS is listed at 17 rounds and the G21 Gen5 MOS is listed at 13 rounds.