Yeah, I know there's a handful that can be silenced or somewhat silenced, but this was a little .38 stubnose, Hollywood can be comical sometimes lol.

There are different conventions out there, but really a pistol is just a small, single-handed firearm. In modern terminology there typically is a distinction made between them, but it isn't incorrect to refer to a revolver as a pistol.

That came across as pretty aggressive. Are you feeling alright? Did you get it all out of your system now?

Sorry, but your etymology of the word 'gun' isn't very accurate.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gun

Still not going to respond to any pistol vs revolver, but no it is not meant to be aggressive, I am rather tired of seeing the argument of pistol or revolver though, so I could see someone seeing my statement as aggressive.

And, there are many drill sergeants which will love you, if you keep thinking that is a true definition of a gun. Just go up to one, after enlisting and ask "When do I get my gun" Your welcome.

Drill sergeants are neither etymologists or historians of firearms, so I don't really see their opinions on the topic as being very relevant to the discussion. Drill sergeants aren't in the business of assigning conventionally accepted definitions to words.

Forcing recruits to say "rifle" instead of the much more common "gun" is completely a matter of controlling how they speak, how they think, and getting them used to following arbitrary orders

I love Etymology Online. You learn all kinds of stuff there. Like the term "pistol" predates automatic handguns by a good 300 years. Who'da thunk?

Not only that but lets be honest here -the military are NOT hand-gun experts by any stretch! It's seen as a back-up secondary weapon at best there. There are SOME hand-gun experts in the Police.....but I'd say you need to go to the FBI and the private sector to get the best training/tactics/advice with hand-guns.

Dark, Armed forces humor is lost upon these I fear. Anyways. Moving along. Have fun continuing arguing over a revolver being a pistol.

one of the biggest issues for me, as a revolver fan, can't really stand how the reloading animation for the revolvers are cringeworthy, for a military war vet, this guy really never gave a damn about his firearms. All of his actions seem overly dramatic, swinging his arm around and slamming things into the slot/cylinder. Not only that, but the firing rate for the double action revolver just tells me Bethesda was lazy, instead of making a new animation, which technically would be easy, just cut out the silly cacking, but nope, just copy-and-paste it all around.

Another peeve towards the reloading is how in the world is he able to reload the revolver UPWARDS? Just what?

Originally the term pistol was in general use to describe any handgun, a gun designed to be used by one hand.

I don't know where you're from but the meaning of the word "pistol" and the distinction that a revolver is not a pistol varies per country and region. Also, various English dictionaries use the term either interchangeably when describing a revolving pistol or they use revolver and pistol as each being their own subset of hand gun. Technically it is not incorrect at all to classify a revolver as a type of pistol. (Even on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol and in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

The distinction between pistols and revolvers only came into being after the invention of the semi automatic hand gun. And from what I can tell it's very much a contemporary North American English thing.

So, I'm not bothered by it at all.

Word "pistol" does not have single established definition and it is sometimes used as meaning all handguns in general, revolvers including. There are some revolvers which had official designation "pistol" for example. So no, it's not weird.

What of the semi auto "assault" rifles?

As a "gun guy" I am sort of offended by the term "assault weapon" or "assault rifle" as even if the terms did not originate with the anti-gunners it's modern usage certainly belongs to them. And the way they use it...it really has NO MEANING. Seems to be defined as:

"any scary looking black rifle or hand-gun that can be used to kill or maim people"

So....yeah no meaning whatsoever. I won't use the term & I set as many people straight who do as a I can. I usually begin by asking THEM to define it. Then when they can't I ask them to stop using the stupid fear-mongering terms.

Back in the day all war rifles were single shot, usually bolt action, guns. As far as I know the Assault Rifle name was used to designate more modern, auto and semi auto weapons that were built for war. This really started in WW2, with German and Allied weapons being produced in this type. The Russians at that time went with submachine guns as a close in weapon and did not really catch up till the AK 47 just after the war.

As a full on hippie, guns are for cowards, guy, I really have not noticed any particular popular hatred of assault weapons. Now the open carry of any damn thing crowd might disagree.

Not to devolve into the distasteful language of the political, but it is used a pejorative in certain circles, whereas in reality it is only a term whose formal definition (easily googled) developed to delineate the lightweight portability and chambering of the modern design from the older world battle rifles.

Things are different from an 'outside the US' perspective, where firearms discussion and use isn't under an umbrella of debate about regulation.

I'd suggest if people want to slide over into the political, and off the topic, to go find a forum suitable for it...the rest of the world doesn't need to be in on the debate.

Well, as it stands, I would like more pistols AND revolvers. Particularly a M1911 with a high chance of knock down, and a .357 or a police special to extend the viability of .38 so I can start using up some of this .38 ammo. Pipe guns aren't really doing it for me. I mean, they're fun for the first 10 or so levels, but they got old pretty quick for me.

The only gun I'll ever call an 'assault rifle' is the FNH SCAR, because the SCAR literally stands for Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle. (There are probably others that I'm forgetting, but that one sticks out the most.) The anti-gun use of the term is simply conjecture in its purest form, much like all the other 'knowledge' they pull from video games, movies, and TV about firearms. I swear they get their information from whatever latest Grand Theft Auto game is out.

For the record, the winner between semi-auto pistols and revolvers:

Whichever one gets an "extra projectile" Legendary Drop first.

Well, the original meaning comes from the German StG 44 SturmGewehr, and Sturmgewehr literally could be translated as "assult rifle" In danish we call it a "Stormgev?r" (old designation) automat riffel or automatisk karabin. Sturm and Storm have several meanings, and sturm / storm something, can mean a military assault (altho storm is also just a very windy condition as well, or you could take your lover with storm). So if you don't want to coin them as assualt rifle, you simply call them battle rifles or automatic rifles, or something third?

I'll take my never-ending fully modded 10mm auto pistol with commando maxed out. pewpewpewpew

I played all 3 STALKER games on master, and I always carried a pistol. In the first one, you only had a pistol and long gun slot anyways. I always carried the starting Makarov in Shadow Of Chernobyl because it never jammed, and ammo for it was everywhere. Also, even exo guys died in one headshot from it. I cleared out the brain scorcher or whatever that underground lab is with just a few pistol mags. With iron sights, It was dead on to 20 yards or so.

I used the fast shooting AK on semi as a sniper rifle, it was accurate as hell. Carried a pump shotgun too. Those were the 3 weapons you really needed in STALKER, a good handgun, a shotgun, and an assault or sniper rifle. Ended up beating Shadow with the starting makarov after hundreds of hours of playing the game, was the last run I did. Used a Dragunov for the NPP part, because there are snipers on the other buildings that are too far away for a pistol to hit.

Didn't care for Clear Sky too much. Pripyat was really good though, and for a pistol I carried the Beretta with a suppressor, full auto, was a really good handgun. I also kept Degytarev's Makarov because it was 0.15kg with the polymer frame, and with a ton of ammo for it it was nice in a pinch, came in handy a few times. Usually had a sniper rifle as my main weapon in all three games, when I finally got one. Mainly used a scoped assault rifle, though.

The pistol was my indoor weapon for the most part. I know you could take the scopes off and use irons on assault rifles, but I just preferred handguns for indoor work. I could land headshots almost every time, and even the exo guys only took 3 Makarov headshots on Master in Pripyat, but I usually had a 1911 or Beretta in that one. The Beretta had minimal recoil with a supressor and full auto, and bursts to the head dropped anyone fast at close range. Pistols were nice and light, and the ammo was cheaper and lighter, so I would save the assault or sniper rifle for ranged fights.

I've found pistols to be quite useful in every FPS game I've ever played, if for nothing more than emergency close range headshots.

But I agree, the STALKER games were some of the best FPS games I've played. But honestly, as useful as pistols were, not sure why you never used one in the STALKER games. They saved a lot of money, and wear and tear on your main weapons, plus if my AK jammed in a fight, or the SA80, accurate, but that thing started jamming constantly on orange condition, I could pull out my handgun and kill close range enemies, take cover, and reload my rifle.

The only Stalker,, hmm, maybe the only two Stalkers with enforced pistol slots were Shadow and Clear Sky. I only played them once and all the mods and Prypit have 2 weapon slots.

Still you are right. I played, mostly mods and they are all over the place, but always have 2 weapon slots. My favorite Oblivion Lost, now with a new version, is a panic. Maybe 25% harder than vanilla, nothing like the stunning Narodnaya Solyanka nwhich i9s just brutal, twice as hard perhaps. Anyway with the option available, a close in gun and a moderate ranged gun are what works. With close in guns like a modded rapid Groza, pistols become toys. As well you can hardly afford to carry one with attendant ammo and weight penalties if a better gun is available.

Hell I don't even like shotguns. Take too long to load.

Guess they aren't your thing. I've always had good luck using them, though. The Groza was good, I generally carried the AN-94 with a scope, was probably my favorite weapon. Never saw the need to carry two assault rifles, though. Shotguns did have issues, I usually ended up carrying it's weight in extra ammo instead and just killing the mutants with a rifle, though shotguns made it easier.

I'll have to try Oblivion Lost, looks good. I'm about to start my last semester of college in a few days, though. Won't have any time for gaming.

The only mod I played for STALKER was LURK, it was pretty good.

Exactly...the first that gets "enchanted."