Pistol
A handgun with an integral chamber, from Renaissance Italy to modern battlefields.
A pistol is a type of handgun, characterized by a barrel with an integral chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French pistolet, meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the English language 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 and derringers.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Semi-automatic pistol
- Role
- Starting weapon (System Shock); early sidearm (System Shock 2)
- First appears
- System Shock (1994)
- Hands
- One-handed
- Available in
- System Shock, System Shock 2
Lore & Background
The pistol originates in the 16th century, when early handguns were produced in Europe. The English word was introduced from the Middle French pistolet. The etymology of the French word pistolet is disputed; it may be from a Czech word for early hand cannons, píšťala, used in the Hussite Wars during the 1420s, or alternatively from Italian pistolese, after Pistoia, a city renowned for Renaissance-era gunsmithing. The character Pistol appears in three plays by William Shakespeare, the earliest having been written between 1596 and 1599.
Reader's Guide
The most common type of pistol used in the contemporary era is the semi-automatic pistol. The older single-shot and lever-action pistols are now rarely seen and used primarily for nostalgic hunting and historical reenactment. Fully-automatic machine pistols are uncommon in civilian usage because of their generally poor recoil-controllability and strict laws and regulations. Single-shot handguns were mainly used during the era of flintlock and musket weaponry. Revolvers feed ammunition via the rotation of a cylinder. Semi-automatic pistols deliver faster rates of fire and require only a few seconds to reload by replacing the magazine. A machine pistol is a pistol that is capable of burst-fire or fully automatic fire.
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