A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, lack stocks, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns were single-shot pistols, following the mass production of the Colt Paterson revolver starting in 1836, most handguns today are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols. Before commercial mass production, handguns were often considered a badge of office comparable to a ceremonial sword, as they had limited utility and were more expensive than the long barreled guns of the era. In 1836, Samuel Colt patented the Colt Paterson, the first practical mass-produced revolver, which was capable of firing five shots in rapid succession and quickly became a popular personal weapon. Handguns became defined as a weapon meant for personal defence. They are used today mostly as sidearms by law enforcement.
Definition The Encyclopædia Britannica defines a handgun as "any firearm small enough to be held in one hand when fired"; while the American Webster's Dictionary defines it as "a firearm (such as a revolver or pistol) designed to be held and fired with one hand". Among the Anglophone countries, neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which is part of the United States Department of Justice or the Government of the United Kingdom, who are in charge of American and British firearms licensing respectively, offer any specific legal definitions of a handgun. The ATF, however, does separately define "handgun – pistol" and "handgun – revolver" under its "Terminology & Nomenclature" section, both with the "pistol-type" description of "a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand". The Canadian Criminal Code defines a handgun as "a firearm that is designed, altered or intended to be aimed and fired by the action of one hand, whether or not it has been redesigned or subsequently altered to be aimed and fired by the action of both hands". The Australian gun laws, which are based on the National Firearms Agreement (1996) and interpreted and enforced independently by each state or territory, consider a "handgun" a firearm that:
History
Hand cannons
Firearms started in China where gunpowder was first developed. The oldest known bronze barrel handgun is the Heilongjiang hand cannon in 1288. It is 34 cm (13.4 inches) long without a handle and weighs 3.55 kg (7.83 pounds). The diameter of the powder chamber is 6.6 cm (2.6 inches) while the diameter of the interior at the end of the barrel is 2.5 cm (1.0 inch). The barrel is the lengthiest part of the hand cannon at 6.9 inches long. The hand cannon has a bulbous base at the breech called the Yoshi (藥室), or gunpowder chamber, where the explosion that propels the projectile occurs. The walls of the powder chamber are noticeably thicker to better withstand the explosive pressure of the gunpowder. The powder chamber also has a touch hole, a small hole for the fuse that ignites the gunpowder. Behind the gunpowder chamber is a socket shaped like a trumpet where the handle of the hand cannon is inserted. The bulbous shape of the base gave the earliest Chinese and Western cannons a vase-like or pear-like appearance, which gradually disappeared when advancements in metallurgical technology made the bulbous base obsolete. In 1432, Joseon dynasty under the reign of Sejong the Great introduced the world's first handgun named se-chongtong (세총통). Se-chongtong has a total length of 13.8 cm, an inner diameter of 0.9 cm, and an outer diameter of 1.4 cm. Se-chongtong is held by cheolheumja (철흠자, iron tong-handle), which allows quick change barrel for the next shot, and fires chase-jeon (차세전, a type of standardized arrow of Joseon) with a maximum fatal range of 200 footsteps (≈250 meters). Initially, Joseon considered the gun as a failed project due to its short effective range, but se-chongtong quickly saw usage after fielding to the frontier provinces starting in June 1437. Se-chongtong was used by both soldiers of different units and civilians, including women and children, as a personal defense weapon. The gun was notably used by chetamja (체탐자) spies, whose mission was to infiltrate enemy territory, and by carabiniers carrying multiple guns benefited from its compact size.
Matchlocks
The matchlock appeared in Europe in the mid-15th century. The matchlock was the first mechanism invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. The classic European matchlock gun held a burning slow match in a clamp at the end of a small curved lever known as the serpentine. Upon the pulling of a lever (or in later models a trigger) protruding from the bottom of the gun and connected to the serpentine, the clamp dropped down, lowering the smoldering match into the flash pan and igniting the priming powder. The flash from the primer traveled through the touch hole igniting the main charge of propellant in the gun barrel. On the release of the lever or trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine would move in reverse to clear the pan. For obvious safety reasons, the match would be removed before reloading the gun. Both ends of the match were usually kept alight in case one end should be accidentally extinguished.
Wheellocks
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
