Phosphate conversion coatingPhosphate conversion coating is a chemical treatment applied to steel parts that creates a thin adhering layer of iron, zinc, or manganese phosphates, to achieve corrosion resistance, lubrication, or as a foundation for subsequent coatings or painting. It is one of the most common types of conversion coating. The process is also called phosphate coating, phosphatization, phosphatizing, or phosphating. It is also known by the trade name Parkerizing, especially when applied to firearms and other military equipment.
HandgunA handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which needs to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. The two most common types of handguns are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other types such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage. 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 guns of the era.
PistolA pistol is a type of handgun. The word "pistol" first appeared in English 1570, when early handguns were produced in Europe, and is derived from the Middle French pistolet (1550), meaning a small gun or knife. In colloquial usage, the word "pistol" is often used to describe any type of handgun, inclusive of revolvers (which have a single barrel and a separate cylinder housing multiple chambers) and the pocket-sized derringers (which are often multi-barrelled).
Semi-automatic pistolA semi-automatic pistol (sometimes automatic pistol) is a handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired. Only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled, as the pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset. Additional terms sometimes used as synonyms for a semi-automatic pistol are: self-loading pistol, autopistol, autoloading pistol, and automatic pistol.
Machine pistolA machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire. The term can also be used to describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of Maschinenpistole, the German word for submachine guns. Machine pistols were developed during World War I and originally issued to German artillery crews who needed a self-defense weapon that is lighter than a rifle but more powerful than a standard semi-automatic pistol. This concept would eventually lead to the development of the personal defense weapon or PDW.
M1911 pistolThe M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original model adopted in March 1911, and Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the improved M1911A1 model which entered service in 1926. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam War era.
Pistol slideThe slide on the majority of fully/semi-automatic pistols is the upper part that reciprocates ("slides") with recoil during the gun's operating cycle. It serves as the bolt carrier group (BCG) and partly as the receiver, and generally houses the firing pin/striker, the extractor and frequently also the barrel, and provides a mounting platform for iron and optical sights. Through the principles of short recoil or simple blowback operations, the slide is moved backwards with each shot by the energy of expanding gasses caused by the combusting propellant (often a nitrocellulose-based smokeless powder, very rarely black powder).
Blowback (firearms)Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge. Several blowback systems exist within this broad principle of operation, each distinguished by the methods used to control bolt movement. In most actions that use blowback operation, the breech is not locked mechanically at the time of firing: the inertia of the bolt and recoil , relative to the weight of the bullet, delay opening of the breech until the bullet has left the barrel.
RevolverA revolver is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six cartridges, before needing to be reloaded, revolvers are commonly called six shooters. Before firing, cocking the revolver's hammer partially rotates the cylinder, indexing one of the cylinder chambers into alignment with the barrel, allowing the bullet to be fired through the bore.
Automatic firearmAn automatic firearm or fully automatic firearm (to avoid confusion with semi-automatic firearms) is an autoloading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharge to feed a new ammunition round into the chamber, and then igniting the propellant and discharging the projectile (either bullet, shot, or slug) by delivering a hammer or striker impact on the primer.
