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Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 4:55 pm
by ordnance
P.S. Why do people these days refer to pistols as handguns. Handguns are any firearm that can be carried and fired in the arms as opposed to from carriages and stands. Handguns include rifles, muskets, shotguns etc.
Because you can call them either.
Pistol vs. Handgun
There is some gray area with this one. Some use the term “handgun” to describe any hand-held firearm, but only use “pistol” in reference to semi-automatic handguns — not revolvers. I’m of the school that believes pistol and handgun may be used interchangeably. Here’s why.
One authoritative source, The NRA Firearms Sourcebook, defines a pistol as “a generic term for a hand-held firearm. Often used more specifically to refer to a single-shot, revolver or semi-automatic handgun.”
Then there’s the historical record. Though there’s debate over whence the term “pistol” arose, by the late 16th century it was commonly used to describe any hand-held gun. It even appeared in works by William Shakespeare. Then along came Samuel Colt, who described his cylinder-firearm invention as a “revolving pistol.”
“Pistol” was an established part of the vernacular long before the semi-auto handgun.
Therefore it’s safe to say all handguns are pistols, and all pistols are handguns.
Read more:
http://www.gunsandammo.com/gun-culture/ ... z3UZJQLFwk
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:00 pm
by meles meles
[pedantry]
No, ooman, not all pawguns (handguns) are pistols.
A pistol has a barrel and chamber that are a single item. A revolver, therefore, having its chambers separate from the bore, is a paw gun but not a pistol. Not all revolvers fall outwith the category 'pistol' - a pepperbox, for example, though it has rotating barrels, has an integral chamber for each barrel and thus is a pistol. A derringer is a pistol for the same reason...
[/pedantry]
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:19 pm
by 25Pdr
froggy wrote:
Please tell me you joined a continental club, did not surrender your Margolin & that you go to Switzerland, Belgium, France or where ever to shoot it from time to time ...
No Yves...Surrendered it. Got £150 I think.
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:21 pm
by Demonic69
meles meles wrote:
A pistol has a barrel and chamber that are a single item.
No etymology of the word makes that distinction badger, when was that drawn?
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:22 pm
by meles meles
You've been reading the wrong words then, ooman...
Its origin is from the mid 15th Century Bohemian (currently Czech) píšt'ala, literally, a pipe. A revolver isn't a pistol as the chambers aren't part of the pipe.
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:50 pm
by Demonic69
Sounds like distinction for pedants sake ;-)
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 6:23 pm
by ordnance
Please tell me you joined a continental club, did not surrender your Margolin & that you go to Switzerland, Belgium, France or where ever to shoot it from time to time ...
OR even stayed in the UK and joined a club here.
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:12 pm
by 1066
Chapuis wrote:1066 wrote:Well for competition I really liked my Britarms but if I could only have one I think I would have the old Browning Medallist.
When I recently picked up a Buckmaster it immediately felt familiar, same grip angle, same magazine but such poor quality.
That's not a picture of the meddalist 1066, that's a picture of the Browning Match the most reliable and accurate .22 pistol I have ever owned. They also produced the Match 150 which was UIT compliant, the match wasn't. Both these pistols and the later International was based on the basic meddalist which itself was based on the Colt Woodsman I believe.
Like you point out the quality on modern Browning pistols just isn't the same. They have cheapened it for mass production at minimal cost of production.
Just the same as yourself if I could only own one .22 target pistol it would have to be a Browning Match, a genuine classic.
Yes, you're quite right - mine was a Match 150 with Bowler grips, similar to the one below. A beautiful pistol.
I shot this target with it. I swapped it for the Britarms but never shot any better with it.

Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:49 pm
by Chuck
Glock 23 with a .22 conversion works just fine - when mini mags are available. My mates have 1911's with 22 conversions fitted
Re: Handgun-based "What If?"
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:57 pm
by Daryll
1066 wrote:Chapuis wrote:1066 wrote:Well for competition I really liked my Britarms but if I could only have one I think I would have the old Browning Medallist.
When I recently picked up a Buckmaster it immediately felt familiar, same grip angle, same magazine but such poor quality.
That's not a picture of the meddalist 1066, that's a picture of the Browning Match the most reliable and accurate .22 pistol I have ever owned. They also produced the Match 150 which was UIT compliant, the match wasn't. Both these pistols and the later International was based on the basic meddalist which itself was based on the Colt Woodsman I believe.
Like you point out the quality on modern Browning pistols just isn't the same. They have cheapened it for mass production at minimal cost of production.
Just the same as yourself if I could only own one .22 target pistol it would have to be a Browning Match, a genuine classic.
Yes, you're quite right - mine was a Match 150 with Bowler grips, similar to the one below. A beautiful pistol.
I shot this target with it. I swapped it for the Britarms but never shot any better with it.

Yep, the Match 150 was my first handgun too.... used in many club and County postal UIT Comps. Eventually traded up for a Pardini.