Pistols and Revolvers

These are small-arms designed to be hand-held, in either one or each hands. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general category of firearms from long guns like rifles and shotguns. Pistols and revolvers are generally categorized as handguns.

A handgun potentially differs from a rifle or shotgun by the shorter barrel length and absence of a butt (the part of a gun which rests on the shoulder of the wielder), but in case of some german made guns, there was an option to use the wooden holster as a butt.