Maybe I'm just getting old and crusty, and there are a lot more important things in this world to be bothered with, but the terms "wheelgun" and especially "wheelie" make me bristle especially when used by people who should know better -- usually those who shoot autoloaders almost exclusively -- and Fudds. The same bristly-ness occurs to a lesser degree when I hear "shottie, "winnie," and "clip". It just smacks of ignorance.

I'm curious, do any S&W's have nicknames other than those given by the factory ("Hand Ejector," "Distinguished Combat Magnum," "Highway Patrolman" etc?) I've heard "Big Iron" but that's about it.

An interesting characteristic of machine gunners in general is that they do not use lame-sounding Fudd names ending in "...ie" to describe their guns. Browning 1917's and 1919's are "Brownings," the M2 .50 caliber heavy barrel is "Ma Duece," the M60 is "The Pig," the AR15/M16 is "Mousegun" and my favorite pet name: "Poodle shooter." "Greasegun" is an appropriate nickname to describe the M3/M3A1, as is "Potato Digger" to the M1895. Have you ever heard an owner of a real honest-to-goodness Thompson (21, 21AC, 28, 28A1, or M1, M1A1) submachine gun utter the phrase, "Tommy gun?" Probably not.

Thanks for allowing me to get this off my chest. I'm off to clean my 03-A3 and M1 "Garand" now....

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Tom in AZ
Respect the Dingbat

I don’t mind the term wheelgun when referring to a revolver; I do find the term wheelie silly.
The one that really gets to me, is born on date. Folks your firearms were not born they were manufactured.

My favorite is "vintage" guns, folks we aren't talking about wine here. Guns have no vintage. That ****** word got started in Antique stores.

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Dick

I don't mind wheelgun when referring to revolvers, but I bristle at the term "holy black" when referring to black powder.

Clint Smith often says about his penchant for revolvers, "Wheel guns are real guns." Okay for Clint Smith, okay for me.

Wheelies are what you do with bicycles and dirt bikes.

Add "minty" to the list of contrived colloquialisms and annoying adjectives.

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I'm with the banned ...

"BOOLITS"
does it to me.

What does seem wrong to me is people calling revolvers pistols. I was brought up being taught a pistol is a semi auto. Whatever. I dont stress over it. I have real bigger things to worry about.

I don't sweat the petty things. Back when I lived in the Washington DC area an inner city friend of mine would say, "they be triflin'," when refering to people fussin' over petty things.

This. Can't stand it. Intentionally misspelling something in an attempt to be cool.
The last few years have seen casings almost replace cases, in the media and with people who ought to know better. I will maintain, casings are for sausages. Cases are part of a cartridge.
But I know I'm in a losing battle.

I've always liked and often used the term wheelgun as well as sixgun.

Never used or even heard one called a wheelie till now.

But yeah , it sounds silly , like calling a shotgun a shottie!

I've always considered Semi autos and Revolvers both to be "pistols" what always bothered me was my Brother in law referring to his firearms only by their calibers instead of their names. my Browning hi Power was so much more than just another "9 mil"

I find it irritating when any word used in reference to a fire arm ends in "ie". It also bugs me when a gun is referred to as a "my new toy" or by a feminine pronoun or proper name.

I have never NAMED a firearm but if I ever do it will be a masculine name. And it will never be referred to as her or she it will be a he or a him if it just has to be referred to using a personal pronoun.

There now! I've been wanting to get that off my chest for years.....

I'd say they're both handguns of course. But yes , semi-auto are pistols.

I often hear news reporters saying "the police officer fired his semi-automatic service revolver"!

A couple years ago I saw a post that was titled something about hunting revos. I finally figured out what was meant (I'll not explain and ruin the mystery). That one always bothers me.

The rest of my list would be too long to show here so I'll leave it at that.

I never really liked hearing people refer to dogs as either a "girl" dog or a "boy" dog. I always thought that girl or boy was a human term. That being said, I do feel like my dog is part of the family...just not human.
I think they should be refered to as male or female. I realize I'm being too trivial though.

Roger

Treating people beat up and torn apart in motor vehicle accidents or dying of some crazy disease on a daily basis bothers me lately but I could care less what term people use to refer to a gun. To each their own!

There actually was a gun called a "Brownie"! I used to own one! It was the 1st firearm Mosburg made. Its a 4 barrel pocket .22lr

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I often use Wheelgun when referring to a 6 shot revolver so
guess i'm to blame. Now "wheelie" is not used by me nor do
i name any of my guns like an old girlfriend or child. They are
guns not people. And they are manufactured and not "born"
like Old Bear has stated. All in all i don't fret over trivial stuff
like this. But i do steer clear of someone who wants to go
shooting with me who has a pet name for his or her gun.
Creeps me out i guess.

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

I believe Sam Colt himself marketed "Colt's Revolving Pistols."
Pretty much settled it for me.

I have to go along with the OP and several others. Wheelie, winnie, shottie and boolit drive me nuts. These and similar terms are often used by those who have little experience with the subject being discussed but wish to sound knowledgible by the use of words which they believe will tend to indicate familiarity.

Just for clarity, I have been casting bullets for well over 50 years and find the term "boolits" to be an abomination!

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Gunsmithing since 1961

I thought he called them "Colties".

FWIW, most acknowledge a pistol to be a handgun that has a chamber that is integral to the barrel. Revolvers don't fit that description.

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M&P40c/15-22/SD9VE/Mossy500

Oh yea! Especially when its an attempt at typing cowboy/southern speech. Drives me absolutely nuts. I have to re read the sentences and i just say forget it and go to another topic. One guy here does it a lot! But....whatever .....he's more then welcome to do it and im free to move along


How about some "wheelgun" guys calling mag fed handguns "plastic". That just screams ignorance to me

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

My user name on another site is "wheelgunguy", so I guess I'm OK with it.

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'Merica!

I don't mind "Wheelgun" too much, but "Wheelie" and especially "Shotty", "Winnie", "Remmie" etc, are fingernails on a chalkboard to me. The old timer in me hates "Semi-auto." I know that's what they are technically, but when I was a kid they were "Automatics." A Browning Auto 5, was a "Browning Automatic." A 1911 pistol was a 45 Automatic. Anything that shot more than one round with one pull of the trigger was a "full automatic."

And I agree. Sam Colt called 'em "pistols." Good enough for me.

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John 3:16 .

Col. jeff cooper would get a tizzy fit when someone called a revolver a pistol. But then he was very fussy about the kings english. I do know he could spell better than me.

I'm with you on this one, thought I was the only one who hated the term.

What does a 1911 shoot? A cartridge called the .45ACP. What does "ACP" stand for? Hint: It isn't "Semi-automatic Colt Pistol."

BOOLITS should be reserved for those that cast their own lead projectiles, that's were it came from.

I like the distinctions of Revolver and Pistols. So much so I got in a argument with a range officer. I was sighting in a 6" Ruger 44 Mag on the 50 yard range. The sign said no pistols. He told me no Pistols, I disagreed and said it's not, it's a revolver and I can't sight it in on the 25 yard pistol range. He said OK

I dislike the term of my xyz "runs" well with so and so ammo.

It sure runs good on that ammo, what is it a car?

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Still Running Against the Wind

Revos and shotties.
On another site I hear Leupolds being referred to as Leupies. That one makes me shiver.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

FWIW, my revolver is Thumper. A Thompson is a ChicagoTypewriter. Other than the Brownie, camera or fiirearm, I dislike the "ie."

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and what his trumpet saith

Didn't Buffalo Bill Cody call his 1853 Springfield that he had converted to .50-70 "Lucretia Borgia?"....because "she was so deadly."

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Pack light and cinch tight.

To answer your inquiry, NO, you are NOT the only one... But "Minty" still heads my list.

All this is because nobody took time out of their day to "educate them" ; as in "Educate me on S&W .38s"...

It's all our fault.

The definition of Pistol varies. Sam Colt did call his new handguns "revolving pistols", so a revolver is still a pistol, though most people when using the term are referring to a semi-auto type handgun and not a revolver. Years change definitions and not always to the better.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

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Support your Police, & NRA

FWIW, my SIG is Bambi.

Just kidding.

I am well known for being anal, I use wheelgun,probably slipped up on occasion by saying pistols,referring to my handguns both semi automatic and revolver.That said I also do not like tupperware or black guns. The only black pistol I own is a S & W Shield.I haven noticed over the years the written and spoken word have been subject to alot of modifications,most not for the better.

Then the definition has changed because before there were very many semi pistols if some said 'pistol' it was probably a revolver. Flintlock dueling arms were called 'pistols' 300 years ago.

How about "Keep the booger hook off the bang switch" till ready to fire? <shudder!> Terminal cuteness!

The newspaper in my city once was one of the top three in the country till it was sold to Gannett and started the slide to utter mediocrity. One thing they, and other news outlets, do that really frosts me is to carefully stipulate that someone was shot with a semi-automatic pistol or rifle. Hell, folks, I could kill someone just as effectively with a revolver, and much more vividly with my old 12 gauge side-by-side! But "semi-auto" is a four-letter word to the press.

I don't mind "wheel gun", and use it occasionally; but "wheelie" is stupid, and "bottom-feeder" for an automatic (yes, that's what we called them back when the world and I were young) is appalling.

Don't get me started on calling cartridges "bullets". I've heard LEO's who should know better commit that one.

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Oh well, what the hell.

pistols have been in use since the 1400's...there were no 'wheelies' or 'semis' back then.

from Miriam-Webster:

pistol

noun (Concise Encyclopedia)

© Merriam-Webster Inc.

Small firearm designed to be operated with one hand. The name may derive from the city of Pistoia, Italy, where handguns were made as early as the 15th century. It was originally a cavalry weapon. However, because the firepower of pistols must be kept low in order to reduce them to manageable weight, and because only skilled soldiers can shoot them accurately beyond 10 yards, they have never been satisfactory military weapons. In legal use, pistols are most frequently carried by police and other security personnel and serve mainly as a defensive weapon of last resort. Their compact size, low cost, and ease of operation make them a common weapon in violent crime, so that pistols are a common object of laws regulating the ownership of firearms. The two classes of pistol are revolvers and automatics. Automatics have a mechanism, actuated by the energy of recoil, that feeds cartridges from a magazine in the grip.

......

Wouldn't you can an 1873 Colt Peacemaker a pisol? Everyone I know does.

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ASA/NSA 67-71
NRA Benefactor

"Wheel gun", you say?
Bob


Napoleon 12 pdn Light Field Gun

Attached Images

Napoleon_field_gun.jpg (33.2 KB, 11 views)

The Wheellock action was an invention of the 1500s that paralleled the flintlock because the ignition system, rather than striking like a flintlock, used a rotating wheel similar to a cigarette lighter today.

Mr. Cody can call any firearm anything he wanted to. Most of us can't and should not attempt to do so.

Me too...this one drives me up the wall for some reason.

I've always thought that a "pistol" was any firearm that could be aimed and fired with one hand. (with the expectation of hitting a target)

That would leave out alot of AR and AK based "pistols" on the market. Although It might be fun to watch someone try.

Yes, revolvers are pistols. Like several others I cite Sam Colt as my "expert witness".

"Wheelies" involve motercycles, not guns.

The term "assault rifle" really gets in my craw.

OK, I'll concede "wheelgun" and "sixgun" (but not "fivegun," "sevengun," "eightgun," or "tengun") as an acceptable reference to a revolver and "Chicago typewriter" for the Thompson. A machine gunner friend tells me he refers to all of his Thompsons as "Tommy guns" and calls his Vickers gun "Miss Vickie" (ugh). Take that FWIW.

"Gat" is a good one that I haven't heard for a long time. There is another term, "mohair trigger" that was used in a 1920's newspaper article in reference to a 44 HE 2nd carried by a police detective in Peoria, IL.

Only one firearm in my posession has a name. "Big Blue" is a 6.5" 29-6 Classic with full underlug. It's a good gun, one I've had for a very long time. Some of my rifles are "tackdriver" but that's a generic reference. (Note added: I forgot, there's one more. "Mr. Fortyfour" is a 3" 29-3. I bought it after watching "From Dusk Till Dawn" "From Dusk To Dawn" Gun)

SW29CKrein05Walkabout.JPG

29-3 left.jpg

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Tom in AZ
Respect the Dingbat

and clips. activists and antis, and all the "experts" drive me crazy when I hear this. . . and anything out of piers morgan's mouth

LOL! How long can you listen to Rachael Maddow without shooting the tv?

Me say "Gun"

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson