This article is intended as a 5-minute explanation of the types of legal guns currently available to United States citizens. I hope to provide a basic understanding for those new to or just interested in the definitions of basic weapon types.

For this article, I am not going to include exotic, military, illegal, homemade, or prototype weapons. This basically boils down to 3 categories: pistols, rifles, and shotguns. First, however, there are some terms that apply to all three types. I’ll cover them first.

Single action refers to pulling the trigger firing a round after the gun is cocked, either manually or by recoil gas from a previously fired round.

Double action refers to being able to cock and fire the gun with a single trigger pull.

All of the weapons below are available in single or double action. Semi-autos are also available in double/single action. Which means the first pull of the trigger is double action and all subsequent pulls are single action.

We have individual shots, which are usually bolt action, lever action or break action, and are fed with ammunition manually, by tube or clip. Revolvers and semi-automatic weapons automatically load the next round to be fired on the next trigger pull. Ammunition is kept in the cylinder or fed by tube or clip. The words clip and magazine mean the same thing.

Pistols:

The term pistol refers to handguns that do not use stocks. These range in size from derringers to sub-compact, compact, full-size, and specialty weapons. There are single shot, revolvers and semi-automatic, and they feed ammunition manually, by cylinder or clip. All types are available in a wide range of calibers. Pistols are generally designed for targets less than 100 yards away.

rifles:

This refers to weapons with a buttstock and a barrel longer than 16 inches. Rifles are designed to accurately shoot farther than pistols. Over 100 yards, a skilled shooter with the right equipment could accurately shoot 1,000 yards or more. Rifles can be bolt-action, lever-action, or semi-automatic, and bullets are fed manually, by tube, or clip. Rifles also have a wide range of calibers available.

shotguns:

Shotguns fall into the rifle category in size, but they fire a pellet-filled projectile instead of a bullet. Projectiles vary in caliber and power and can contain a single bullet or hundreds of pellets. Shotguns are available in breakaway, bolt-action, pump and semi-automatic versions, with manually, tube or clip-fed cartridges. Shotguns are designed to fire a shot pattern over a short distance.

Machine guns are also worth mentioning. That is, a fully automatic weapon that fires more than one round for each time the trigger is pulled. These are not available to the public without a broad license.

Another honorable mention is Assault Weapons. This is just a name that many people unfamiliar with guns associate with fully automatic weapons. While the military version usually is, the civilian versions are not. “Assault rifle” simply refers to a military-looking weapon. It has nothing to do with function or capacity.

I hope this has been informative. I will discuss, in more detail, each of these weapon types, their respective functionality and uses, calibers, ammunition, and accessories in future articles.

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