Gun terminology and the meaning or history behind it.

[P7M13]

Reality/Fantasy = Hollywood confused the two for many generations and continues to this day.

Fixed it for ya.

 

[CountryGent]

There's always the "controversial" terms that drive some people nuts: "shotty" for shotgun

"Shotty" is one of the few that actually annoys me. I don't really know why.

Same with silencer/suppressor/can.

I, generally, call it a silencer, because:

1. The inventor called it that.
2. The legal definition in the US is either "silencer" or "muffler", not "suppressor".

 

[Ura-Ki]

"Shotty" is one of the few that actually annoys me. I don't really know why.


I, generally, call it a silencer, because:

1. The inventor called it that.
2. The legal definition in the US is either "silencer" or "muffler", not "suppressor".

Not an argument, but to point out that a silencer dosnt actually silence anything! Lol

Just an observation!
In the Mil, we called them all sorts of things, but Officially, they were suppressors!

 

[TTSX]

Not an argument, but to point out that a silencer dosnt actually silence anything! Lol

Just an observation!
In the Mil, we called them all sorts of things, but Officially, they were suppressors!

Leave it to government to have contradiction

 

[CountryGent]

One factoid, the term "shotty" has been around since at least the 1950s, because it was employed in Alas, Babylon (1959), by Pat Frank.

​

"Because if something comes around the Henrys' yard I want him to hit it, not just pop away​

at it in the dark with a twenty-two. I've taught him how to handle the shotty. It'll be loaded with number two buck. He'll do all right."​

 

[BillM]

All I can think of is "clip", which obviously became popular from the M1 and has since been used incorrectly to describe magazines by many a weekend warrior.

Clip was used interchangeably with magazine for a long time. Elmer Keith called 45 mags "clips" in his autobiography.
Several old ads from different manufacturers called them clips. It's only been the past few years that the great
magazine/clip war erupted. Maybe that is when the current great divide in America started---magazines and clips.

Common words seem to change over time. Remember when a thong was worn on a foot? Gay meant happy and carefree?

Bonus points: Name a pistol that uses a clip. Not a stripper, not a magazine---a clip under the current definition.

 

[CLT65]

Bonus points: Name a pistol that uses a clip. Not a stripper, not a magazine---a clip under the current definition.

I was just shooting one today, actually! My S&W 1917 .45acp revolver uses clips.

For autoloaders all I can think of off the top of my head are the Steyr-Hahn and the C96 Mauser, but I'm sure there were at least a few other obscure, obsolete pistols that used "clips". EDIT- sorry, I guess those are actually strippers.

 

[CLT65]

One factoid, the term "shotty" has been around since at least the 1950s, because it was employed in Alas, Babylon (1959), by Pat Frank.

I have to admit, "shotty" annoys me as well. It just sounds juvenile, to me. I had no idea the term had been around that long. I figured it was a more recent invention, something you'd use in video games.

 

[CLT65]

I was just shooting one today, actually! My S&W 1917 .45acp revolver uses clips.

I hate to quote myself, but I just realized that I had inadvertently hit on another minor controversy in the gun world- some folks are absolutely adamant that a revolver is not a pistol. They will say that automatic + single shot pistols and revolvers are both types of handguns in general, but separate from each other.

Historically though, "handgun" and "pistol" are fairly synonymous, and both automatics and revolvers are types of pistols. Sam Colt's invention was a pistol with a revolving cylinder, soon to become known as a "revolver", but it was still a pistol.

 

[BillM]

I was just shooting one today, actually! My S&W 1917 .45acp revolver uses clips.

For autoloaders all I can think of off the top of my head are the Steyr-Hahn and the C96 Mauser, but I'm sure there were at least a few other obscure, obsolete pistols that used "clips". EDIT- sorry, I guess those are actually strippers

Yup--"is a revolver a pistol"?? According to ATF the chamber has to be integral with the barrel to be a pistol. So your
M-1917, My 2nd mdl hand ejector, mdl 625 and mdl 627 don't qualify.

Steyr and C-96 use strippers----so no joy. The one I'm thinking of (and there may be more) uses a clip. Like a
Carcano or Garand, it holds the cartridges, loads into the gun but does not contain the spring or follower. Semi
auto pistol.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I hate to quote myself, but I just realized that I had inadvertently hit on another minor controversy in the gun world- some folks are absolutely adamant that a revolver is not a pistol. They will say that automatic + single shot pistols and revolvers are both types of handguns in general, but separate from each other.

Historically though, "handgun" and "pistol" are fairly synonymous, and both automatics and revolvers are types of pistols. Sam Colt's invention was a pistol with a revolving cylinder, soon to become known as a "revolver", but it was still a pistol.

The term "Pistol" has always been used to describe a "Hand Gun" long before semi autos made the scene, and honestly, I think the term applies to all!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

The one I'm thinking of (and there may be more) uses a clip. Like a
Carcano or Garand, it holds the cartridges, loads into the gun but does not contain the spring or follower. Semi
auto pistol.

The Bittner pistol from the 1890's uses a clip like the M1 rifle.....Maybe that is the one you are thinking of...?
Andy

 

[RVTECH]

The one I'm thinking of (and there may be more) uses a clip. Like a
Carcano or Garand, it holds the cartridges, loads into the gun but does not contain the spring or follower. Semi
auto pistol.

Maybe the Broom handle Mauser?

 

[BillM]

Maybe the Broom handle Mauser?

Nope. It used strippers

 

[BillM]

The Bittner pistol from the 1890's uses a clip like the M1 rifle.....Maybe that is the one you are thinking of...?
Andy

That's what I love about these forums---somebody always comes up with something I never heard of.
"Learn something new every day"--been working for almost 70 years.
The one I'm thinking of is a semi-auto, but I'm guessing the inventor probably knew Bittner---

 

[CountryGent]

That's what I love about these forums---somebody always comes up with something I never heard of.
"Learn something new every day"--been working for almost 70 years.
The one I'm thinking of is a semi-auto, but I'm guessing the inventor probably knew Bittner---

You knew it was coming.

 

[BillM]

Amazing the number of manually operated pistols made 1880-1890's!! Just dove down the rabbit hole
of the variations of the Schulof---a rotary magazine like a Savage 99 on a 1884ish pistol? Interesting.

Bittner, Steyr, C-96 all good guesses, but still no semi-auto that uses a clip. so--- 1896 Bergmann. I ran across
it years ago, and then last year one turned up in The Mandalorian. Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

The 1896 Bergman was mentioned in the Movie Big Jake..although I think the film actually uses a different pistol....
Andy

 

[CountryGent]

The 1896 Bergman was mentioned in the Movie Big Jake..although I think the film actually uses a different pistol....
Andy

That takes me back. Haven't seen that one in a while. Quick search indicates they used a P38 mocked up to look like a Bergman:

 

[Andy54Hawken]

That takes me back. Haven't seen that one in a while. Quick search indicates they used a P38 mocked up to look like a Bergman:

View attachment 984910

A P38...wait are you telling me that there were Nazi's in the Old West...?
Just kidding here...nice sleuthing here.
Andy