A pistol is a type of handgun , characterised by a barrel with an integral chamber . The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French pistolet ( c. 1550 ), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the English language c. 1570 when early handguns were produced in Europe. In colloquial usage, the word "pistol" is often used as a generic term 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 ).
30-528: C-21 , C 21 , or C21 may refer to: C21 Sako TRG M10 Sniper Weapon System, Canadian Armed Forces sniper rifle . C21 (group) , a Danish boy band C21 (album) , 2003 C-21 Dolphin , a flying boat used by the United States Army Air Corps HMS ; C21 , a 1909 British C class submarine Learjet C-21 , an American military transport aircraft Sauber C21 ,
60-589: A 2002 racing car Space Adventures C-21 , a Russian design for a suborbital rocket plane for Space Adventures Anal cancer (ICD-10 code: C21) Center Game (Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings code: C21) Caldwell 21 or NGC 4449 , an irregular galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici Carbon-21 (C-21 or C), an isotope of carbon Catch 21 , a television game show based on blackjack HMS Glasgow (C21) See also [ edit ] 21st century Century 21 (disambiguation) 21c (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by
90-519: A fully-loaded one. In blowback -type semi-automatics, the recoil force is used to push the slide back and eject the shell (if any) so that the magazine spring can push another round up; then as the slide returns, it chambers the round. An example of a modern blowback action semi-automatic pistol is the Walther PPK . Blowback pistols are some of the more simply designed handguns. Many semi-automatic pistols today operate using short recoil. This design
120-515: A handgun with a single integral chamber within its barrel . Webster's Dictionary defines it as "a handgun whose chamber is integral with the barrel". This makes it distinct from the other types of handgun, such as the revolver , which has multiple chambers within a rotating cylinder that is separately aligned with a single barrel; and the derringer , which is a short pocket gun often with multiple single-shot barrels and no reciprocating action . The 18 U.S. Code § 921 legally defines
150-548: A popular sport in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The L46 was later denoted L461 "Vixen". The L461 has been very popular in Finland and Sweden, especially chambered for the .222 Remington cartridge and has a great reputation among aficionados. In 1957, Sako launched a longer action, the L57, subsequently renamed L579 "Forester". This is a "medium action" intended for the .308 Winchester and similar cartridges. In 1961, Sako introduced
180-611: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages SAKO Sako Limited (natively Sako Oy ) is a Finnish firearm and ammunition manufacturer located in Riihimäki , Tavastia Proper in southern Finland . It also has owned the Tikka brand of bolt-action rifles since 1983, and is now owned by the Italian firearm holding company Beretta Holding . The name Sako comes from
210-540: Is generally used to describe a weapon that is more compact than a typical submachine gun. Multi-barreled pistols, such as the pepper-box , were common during the same time as single shot pistols. As designers looked for ways to increase fire rates, multiple barrels were added to pistols. One example of a multi-barreled pistol is the COP .357 Derringer . Around 1850, pistols such as the Jarre harmonica gun were produced that had
240-600: Is often coupled with the Browning type tilting barrel. A machine pistol is a pistol that is capable of burst-fire or fully automatic fire . The first machine pistol was produced by Austria-Hungary in 1916, as the Steyr Repetierpistole M1912/P16 , and the term is derived from the German word maschinenpistolen . Though it is often used interchangeably with submachine gun , a machine pistol
270-479: Is suitable for ISSF (tehn "UIT") sport pistol events (Rapid Fire Pistol, Standard Pistol, 25m Pistol, and Centerfire Pistol events. It can be used for 50m Free pistol). Sako has also produced a number of rimfire rifles, among them are the P72 Finnscout , M78 , Finnfire , Quad and Finnfire II . The M78 was also chambered for the .22 Hornet and the .22 WMR in addition to the .22 Long Rifle . During
300-700: The 16th century, when early handguns were produced in Europe. The English word was introduced in c. 1570 from the Middle French pistolet ( c. 1550 ). The etymology of the French word pistolet is disputed. It may be from a Czech word for early hand cannons , píšťala ("whistle" or "pipe"), used in the Hussite Wars during the 1420s. The Czech word was adopted in German as pitschale , pitschole , petsole , and variants. Alternatively
330-547: The 1980s (1987), Sako started using the AI/AII/AV designations (previously used for models imported to the US) for the three action lengths in Europe. The complete rifles were still designated L461/L579/L61. The bolt was given a slight cosmetic makeover, with the hammer covered by a conical shell. This visual design was also used on the later models (M4/5/691, M75 , M85 ). The L579 could be delivered with detachable magazine although
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#1732786664700360-643: The L61R "Finnbear" for long cartridges like the .30-06 and 6.5×55mm . Between 1959 and 1974, Sako produced a lever-action gun, the Sako Finnwolf, in .243 Winchester and .308 Winchester . Between 1976 and 1988, Sako produced an autoloading match pistol, the ".22-32", then ".22-32 New Model", then "Triace", three versions of the same handgun, slightly modified. It was chambered for .22 Short, .22 Long Rifle and .32 Smith & Wesson Wadcutter, with conversions (barrels, slides and magazines) for each caliber. It
390-556: The Sako name was the L42 (Luodikko [rifle] model 1942) chambered for the 7×33mm Sako cartridge, prototyped in 1942, and commercial production started after World War II. Sako developed the 7×33mm cartridge based on the 9×19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge, by making a longer case and "necking" the case down to 7 mm calibre (7.21 mm bullet diameter). This cartridge was designed for and well suited to capercaillie and black grouse hunting,
420-405: The chambers revolve about the cylinder's axis. After the revolver, the semi-automatic pistol was the next step in the development of the pistol. By avoiding multiple chambers—which need to be individually reloaded—semi-automatic pistols delivered faster rates of fire and required only a few seconds to reload, by pushing a button or flipping a switch, and the magazine slides out to be replaced by
450-590: The civil guard in 1921. The Suojeluskuntain Yliesikunnan Asepaja moved from Helsinki to an ammunition factory in Riihimäki on 1 June 1927, and reorganized as SAKO in the 1930s. Sako started exporting pistol cartridges to Sweden in the 1930s and continued manufacturing submachine gun cartridges through World War II . Another Finnish firearms manufacturer Tikkakoski , which owned the Tikka brand,
480-681: The company's former name Suojeluskuntain Ase- ja Konepaja Oy ( lit. ' Civil Guard Gun and Machining Works Ltd ' ). In 1919, two years after Finland declared independence from the Russian Empire , the Suojeluskuntain Yliesikunnan Asepaja (Civil Guard Supreme Staff Gun Works) opened in a former Helsinki brewery to repair private arms and recondition Russian military rifles for Finnish service. The rifle repair shop became financially independent of
510-551: The construction was radically different featuring three symmetrical locking lugs and a detachable magazine. Before the 75, Sako hunting rifles (except the L46 and the L579) did not have detachable magazines, but a hinged floorplate with the lock placed on the front of the trigger guard. Sako's latest (and current) model, the M85 , was introduced in 2006. In 2020, S20 was released. Including
540-431: The default was a hinged floorplate. From 1987 to 1992, a version of the short (Vixen) action was produced for the .22 PPC and 6mm PPC cartridges, when Sako introduced these former wildcat cartridges as commercial cartridges, denoted ".22 PPC USA" and "6mm PPC USA" to avoid confusion with the specialized bench rest cartridges which required a "tight neck" chamber. These actions are the same external dimensions, and have
570-418: The development of the revolver , short for revolving pistol, in the 19th century, gunsmiths had finally achieved the goal of a practical capability for delivering multiple loads to one handgun barrel in quick succession. Revolvers feed ammunition via the rotation of a cartridge-filled cylinder , in which each cartridge is contained within its own ignition chamber and is sequentially brought into alignment with
600-409: The lack of a buttstock ) and strict laws and regulations governing their manufacture and sale (where they are regarded as submachine gun equivalents). Technically speaking, the term "pistol" is a hypernym generally referring to a handgun and predates the existence of the type of guns to which it is now applied as a specific term, that is: in colloquial usage it is used specifically to describe
630-450: The new Sako 90 and 100 series. Updated August 2024. Pistol The most common type of pistol used in the contemporary era is the semi-automatic pistol , while the older single-shot and lever-action pistols are now rarely seen and used primarily for nostalgic hunting and historical reenactment , and the fully-automatic machine pistols are uncommon in civilian usage because of their generally poor recoil -controllability (due to
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#1732786664700660-478: The pistol was loaded with a lead ball and fired by a flint striker, and then later a percussion cap . The handgun required a reload every time it was shot. However, as technology improved, so did the single-shot pistol. New operating mechanisms were created, and some are still made today. They are the oldest type of pistol and are often used to hunt wild game . Additionally, their compact size compared to most other types of handgun makes them more concealable . With
690-406: The quality of the workmanship is slightly inferior for the 491/591/691. They featured a separate recoil lug, also found on the 75, and a Tikka trigger assembly. However, these rifles were available in left-hand configuration both as a medium action (591) and long action (691) In 1997, Sako launched the 75 , named for Sako's 75th anniversary. The 75 was externally similar to previous Sako models, but
720-565: The same bolt diameter as the 222 Remington, 222 Rem. Magnum, 223 Rem. cartridge actions. Only the bolt face recess was enlarged to suit the PPC case. In 1992, the first of the "newer" Sakos, the 591, was introduced as a replacement for the L579. Shortly after, the 491 and the 691 were launched. These rifles (491/591/691) are not as highly regarded as the L461/L579/L61R and according to folklore,
750-448: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=C21&oldid=1158778746 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
780-512: The term "pistol" as "a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile ( bullet ) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having: a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s) ; and a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s) ", which includes derringers but excludes revolvers. Commonwealth usage, for instance, does not usually make distinction, particularly when
810-838: 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 the Merriam-Webster definition, the Oxford English Dictionary (a descriptive dictionary) describes "pistol" as "a small firearm designed to be held in one hand", which is similar to the Webster definition for "handgun"; and "revolver" as "a pistol with revolving chambers enabling several shots to be fired without reloading", giving its original form as "revolving pistol". The pistol originates in
840-418: The weapon's barrel by an indexing mechanism linked to the weapon's trigger ( double-action ) or its hammer ( single-action ). These nominally cylindrical chambers, usually numbering between five and eight depending on the size of the revolver and the size of the cartridge being fired, are bored through the cylinder so that their axes are parallel to the cylinder's axis of rotation; thus, as the cylinder rotates,
870-498: The word originated from Italian pistolese , after Pistoia , a city renowned for Renaissance-era gunsmithing, where hand-held guns (designed to be fired from horseback) were first produced in the 1540s. However, the use of the word as a designation of a gun is not documented before 1605 in Italy, long after it was used in French and German. Single-shot handguns were mainly used during the era of flintlock and musket weaponry where
900-593: Was merged into SAKO in 1983. In 1986, the arms manufacturing division of the government-owned Valmet conglomerate (which itself had been derived from the Valtion Kivääritehdas , VKT) was merged with Sako and called Sako-Valmet , with ownership split evenly between Nokia and Valmet. After further organizational shifts in state ownership, the company was sold to the Italian Beretta Holding in 2000. The first civilian rifle bearing
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