A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun which needs to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns are single-shot pistols, the two most common types of handguns used in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other handguns such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.
Modern handguns (clockwise from top left) Glock 22 * Glock 21 *Kimber Stainless Raptor II* Dan Wesson Commander Classic Bobtail * Smith and Wesson 340PD * Ruger Blackhawk* Ruger SP101* SIG Sauer P220 Combat.
Hand cannon from the Chinese Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).
Early German musket with serpentine lock
A wheellock pistol or Puffer, Augsburg, c. 1580
A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries.
The Colt Single Action Army, a revolver chambered in .45 Colt
The Glock 19, a pistol chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum
The Mosin–Nagant, a rifle chambered in 7.62×54mmR
The M4 carbine, a carbine derivative of the M16 rifle, chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO
