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"Wheelgun" and "wheelie" - Is it just me?
- Thread starter The Gila Bender
- Start date
Jyezahn
US Veteran
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.
Arik
Member
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
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My user name on another site is "wheelgunguy", so I guess I'm OK with it. 
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.
And I agree. Sam Colt called 'em "pistols." Good enough for me.
feralmerril
Absent Comrade
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.
mjr
Member
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?
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?
nicky4968
Member
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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Didn't Buffalo Bill Cody call his 1853 Springfield that he had converted to .50-70 "Lucretia Borgia?"....because "she was so deadly."
amazingflapjack
US Veteran
To answer your inquiry, NO, you are NOT the only one... But "Minty" still heads my list.
AZretired
Member
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.
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mjr
Member
Nlmadog
US Veteran
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.
Very few people had semis
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.
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.
shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
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.
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.
Pilgrim
US Veteran
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.
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.
