Just had a guy jokingly warn me not to refer to pistols as a handgun in the actual military which got me thinking.....which it technically correct for military personnel? I'd had thought (maybe I'm way off on this one but anywho) that the term 'handgun' was generally applied to a pistol in the same way 'rocket launcher' is used for projectile launchers that use either rockets, missiles or other ordinance that was fired and carried by it's own propulsion system(not sure where RPG's would fall under this since AFAIK many [early models] use a spring to remove them fom the weapon and a activation-delayed rocket motor carries them the rest of the way) Figured you guys'd figure it out in about five posts or less....
Going way back in history the term handgun was applied to any kind of firearm that could be fired by an individual without the use of a prop or carriage. In modern times, handgun and pistol are typically used to describe the same the same thing. A pistol is a small firearm that has one grip and can be fired from one hand though both hands help with accuracy and recoil.
well, if that is the case, care to explain then why some refer to pistols in the torpedo to the contact for the detonators?
Not that i'm an expert on this but i think when the torpedo hits the target, the quick stop forces something in the torpedo to shoot forward into the explosives in the warhead. This thing is called the pistol. Basicly, the pistol is like a sort of "detonator bullet". When the torpedo quickly stops (at impact), the pistol still uses the momentum of the torpedo to shoot itself forward into the explosives and causes the exlosives to detonate. or, more modern, it can shoot forward and then close a electronic circuit that sent the power to a detonator.
Incidentally, a distinction is sometimes made between pistols (which have the chamber integral with the barrel) and revolvers (which do not). I know of books and chapters in books headed "Pistols and Revolvers". The term handgun, of course, covers the lot. Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
