A pistol is a type of handgun. Some handgun experts and dictionaries make a technical distinction that views pistols as a subset of handguns; others use the terms interchangeably. Sometimes in usage, the term "pistol" refers to a handgun having one chamber integral with the barrel, making pistols distinct from the other main type of handgun, the revolver, which has a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers. But UK/Commonwealth usage does not always make this distinction, particularly when the terms are used by the military. For example, the official designation of the Webley Mk VI revolver was "Pistol, Revolver, Webley, No. 1 Mk VI". In contrast to Merriam-Webster the Oxford English Dictionary (a descriptive dictionary) describes 'pistol' as a small firearm to be used in one hand and the usage of "revolver" as being a type of handgun and gives its original form as "revolving pistol"
The 9mm Glock
There is many advantages to sticking to one round for your handgun needs. Instead of having to hunt for deals on three or four calibers, and stocking both practice and carry ammo for each can get to be a little wonky on both your budget and your gun cabinet shelf, a single caliber choice can streamline your life. The good thing about Glock is that they offer several platforms in the same calibers so that you can stick with the round you love no matter what you are carrying.
The Glock pistol, sometimes referred to by the manufacturer as a Glock "Safe Action" Pistol, is a series ofpolymer-framed, short recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Glock Ges.m.b.H., located in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria. It entered Austrian military and police service by 1982.
Despite initial resistance from the market to accept a "plastic gun" due to durability and reliability concerns, and fears that the pistol would be "invisible" to metal detectors in airports, Glock pistols have become the company's most profitable line of products, commanding 65% of the market share of handguns for United States law enforcement agencies as well as supplying numerous national armed forces and security agencies worldwide. Glocks are also popular firearms amongst civilians for recreational/competition shooting, home/self defense andconcealed/open carry.
Desert Eagle
The Desert Eagle is the most powerful semi-automatic handgun in the world,[citation needed] designed by Magnum Research, Inc. (MRI) in the United States and redesigned by Israeli Military Industries of Israel. It has become an icon of both films and video games the world over, with its triangular barrel and gaping muzzle. Over the past 25 years, MRI has been responsible for the design and development of the Desert Eagle pistol. The design was refined and the actual pistols were manufactured by Israel Military Industries until 1995, when MRI shifted the manufacturing contract to Saco Defense in Saco, Maine. In 1998, MRI moved manufacturing back to IMI, which later reorganized under the name Israel Weapon Industries. Both Saco and IMI/IWI were strictly contractors: all of the intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks, are the property of Magnum Research. Since 2009, the Desert Eagle Pistol has been produced in the United States at MRI's Pillager, MN facility. Kahr Arms acquired Magnum Research in the middle of 2010. The Desert Eagle has been featured in roughly 500 motion pictures and TV films, along with several video games, considerably increasing its popularity and boosting sales.
FN Five-seven
The FN Five-seven, trademarked as the Five-seveN, is a semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre-Herstal (FN Herstal) in Belgium. The pistol is named for its 5.7-mm (.224 in) bullet diameter, and the trademark capitalization style is intended to emphasize the manufacturer's initials—FN.
The Five-seven pistol was developed in conjunction with the FN P90 personal defense weapon and the FN 5.7×28mm cartridge. The P90 was introduced in 1990, and the Five-seven was introduced in 1998 as a pistol using the same 5.7×28mm ammunition. Developed as a companion pistol to the P90, the Five-seven shares many of its design features: it is a lightweight polymer-based weapon with a large magazine capacity,ambidextrous controls, low recoil, and the ability to penetrate body armor when using certain cartridge types.
Tec 9
The Intratec TEC-9 or TEC-DC9 or AB-10 is a blowback-operated semi-automatic pistol, chambered in9×19mm Parabellum. It was designed by Intratec, an American offshoot of Interdynamic AB. The TEC-9 was made of inexpensive molded polymers and a mixture of stamped and milled steel parts.
Swedish company Interdynamic AB of Stockholm designed the Interdynamic MP-9 9mm submachine gun. Intended as an inexpensive submachine gun based on the Carl Gustav M/45 for military applications, Interdynamic did not find a government buyer, so it was taken to US market as an open-bolt semi-automatic KG-9 pistol. The open bolt design was too easy to convert to full-auto. Because of this, the ATF forced Interdynamic to redesign it into a closed-bolt system, which was harder to convert to full-auto.
This variant was called the KG-99. It made frequent appearances on Miami Vice, where it was legally converted to full-auto by Title II manufacturers.
The TEC-9 was produced from 1985 to 1994.
After the Cleveland School massacre, the TEC-9 was in California's list of banned weapons. To circumvent this, Intratec rebranded a variant of the TEC-9 as the TEC-DC9 from 1990 to 1994 (DC standing for "Designed for California"). The most noticeable external difference between the TEC-9 and the later TEC-DC9 is that rings to hold the sling were moved from the side of the gun with the cocking handle, to a removable stamped metal clip in the back of the gun. The TEC-9 and TEC-DC9 are otherwise identical.
P250
The SIG Sauer P250 is a semi-automatic pistol made by J.P. Sauer & Sohn, and SIG Sauer of Exeter, New Hampshire. The SIG Sauer P250 can be chambered in .357 SIG, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, 9×19mm Parabellum, and.380 ACP. The P250 chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum was introduced in the North American market on November 7, 2007 followed by the .45 ACP compact model at SHOT Show 2008 in February. The last of the models were introduced in late 2009.
In early 2014, the SIG P320 was introduced. This striker version of the P250 continues the modular format and shares several of the same components as its hammer-fired sibling including magazines and grip frames. Like other SIG-Sauer pistols, the P250 pistol is a short recoil operated, locked breech pistol. It uses the typical SIG-Sauer cam-operated barrel, which locks into the ejection port on the slide.
A key feature of the pistol is its modular design. The main module of the P250 is an internal stainless steel frame fire control unit which consist of the integrated fire control group (trigger, hammer and all necessary linkage and springs), ambidextrous slide release (one on each side of the pistol), ejector and four slide rails. This steel receiver unit is used in every P250 grip module, top end, and chambering combination and is inserted into the grip frame module and held in place by the axis pin of the disassembly lever. The firearm's serial number is on the fire control unit instead of the grip module.
The fire control unit allows the operator to interchange differently-sized slide assembly or top end modules andpolymer grip frame modules and trigger shoes and (limited) chambering conversions to adapt the gun to the individual user and address different needs.
USP
The USP (Universelle Selbstladepistole or "universal self-loading pistol") is a semi-automatic pistol developed inGermany by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) of Oberndorf am Neckar as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns.
Design work on a new family of pistols commenced in September 1989 focused primarily on the U.S.commercial and law enforcement markets. In 1991, USP prototypes participated in rigorous testing alongside H&K's entry in the Offensive Handgun Weapon System (OHWS) program requested by the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and which would later result in the Mk 23 Mod 0.
The USP prototypes were then refined in 1992, based on input from the OHWS trials, and the design was finalized in December of the same year. The USP was formally introduced in January 1993 with the USP40 model (the base version) chambered for the increasingly popular .40 S&W cartridge, followed soon by the USP9 (using the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge), and in May 1995—the USP45 (caliber .45 ACP). In contrast to the ambitious and innovative P7, P9S, and VP70Z designs, the USP uses a more conventional Browning-style cam-locked action, similar to that used in the Hi-Power and M1911 pistols - but with a polymer frame.
The USP is a semi-automatic pistol with a mechanically locked breech using the short recoil method of operation. This rather conventional lock-up system has a large rectangular lug over the barrel’s chamber that rides into and engages the ejection port cut-out in the slide. When a cartridge is fired, pressures generated by the ignited powder drive the cartridge casing back against the breech face on the slide, driving back both the barrel and slide as they remain locked together in the manner described above. After 3 mm (0.12 in) of unrestricted rearward travel, the projectile has left the barrel and gas pressures have dropped to a safe level. A shaped lug on the underside of the barrel chamber comes into contact with a hooked locking block at the end of the steel recoil spring guide rod, lowering the rear end of the barrel and stopping the barrel's rearward movement.