revolver (redirected from six-gun)

revolver: see small arms.

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revolver

Pistol with a revolving cylinder that provides multishot action. Some early versions, known as pepperboxes, had several barrels, but as early as the 17th century pistols were being made with a revolving chamber to load cartridges into a single barrel. The first practical revolver was not designed until 1835, when Samuel Colt patented his version. He established the standard of a cylinder with multiple chambers, each of which successively locked in position behind the barrel and was discharged by pressure on the trigger. In Colt's early single-action revolvers, the cylinder revolved as the hammer was cocked manually. Double-action revolvers, in which the hammer is cocked and the cylinder revolves as the trigger is pulled, were developed soon afterward, along with metal cartridges.

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revolver [ri′väl·vər]

(navigation)

The pair of horizontal angles between three points, as observed at any place on the circle defined by the three points; this is the one situation in which such angles do not establish a fix. Also known as swinger.

(ordnance)

A firearm with a cylinder of several chambers so arranged as to revolve on an axis and be discharged in succession by the same lock.