Editing Revolver (section)

{{Short description|Firearm with a cylinder holding cartridges}}
{{About|the firearm}}
{{Redirect|Six shooter|3=Six shooter (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Colt Autentica.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Colt Single Action Army]]]]
[[File:Bullet coming from S&W.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Firing a [[Smith & Wesson Model 686]] [[.357 Magnum]]]]

A '''revolver''' is a [[repeating firearm|repeating]] [[handgun]] with at least one [[gun barrel|barrel]] and a revolving [[cylinder (firearms)|cylinder]] containing multiple [[chamber (firearms)|chambers]] (each holding a single [[Cartridge (firearms)|cartridge]]) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, revolvers are commonly called '''six shooters''' or '''sixguns'''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ben |date=2015-04-28 |title=On Writing Guns: Do All Revolvers Hold Six Rounds? |url=https://crimefictionbook.com/2015/04/28/on-writing-guns-do-all-revolvers-hold-six-rounds/ |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=The Writer's Guide to Weapons |language=en}}</ref> Due to their rotating cylinder mechanism, they may also be called '''wheel guns'''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOCsCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |page=137 |quote=Wheel Gun The slang term for a revolve handgun that references the rotation of the weapon's cylinder in its firing action, just as a wheel turns. |title=THE SWAT CYCLOPEDIA: A Handy Desk Reference of Terms, Techniques, and Strategies Associated with the Police Special Weapons and Tactics Function |author=Richard A. Haynes |date=1 January 1999 |publisher=Charles C Thomas |isbn=9780398083434 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=22 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422232155/https://books.google.com/books?id=bOCsCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZeOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |page=58 |quote=Let's start with a revolver, sometimes called a wheel gun. |title=The Handgun Guide for Women: Shoot Straight, Shoot Safe, and Carry with Confidence |date=10 September 2015 |first=Tara Dixon |last=Engel |publisher=Zenith Press |isbn=9781627888103 |access-date=20 September 2020 |archive-date=22 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422232157/https://books.google.com/books?id=lZeOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before firing, cocking the revolver's [[hammer (firearms)|hammer]] partially rotates the cylinder, [[indexing (motion)|indexing]] one of the cylinder chambers into alignment with the barrel, allowing the [[bullet]] to be fired through the bore. By sequentially rotating through each chamber, the revolver allows the user to fire multiple times until having to reload the gun, unlike older [[single-shot]] firearms that had to be reloaded after each shot.

The hammer cocking in nearly all revolvers is manually driven and can be cocked either by the user using the [[thumb]] to directly pull back the hammer (as in [[trigger (firearms)#Single-action|single-action]]), or via internal [[linkage (mechanical)|linkage]] relaying the force of the trigger-pull (as in [[trigger (firearms)#Double-action only|double-action]]), or both (as in [[trigger (firearms)#Double-action/single-action|double-action/single-action]]).

Some rare revolver models utilize the [[blowback (firearms)|blowback]] of the preceding shot to automatically cock the hammer and index the next chamber, although these self-loading revolvers (known as [[automatic revolver]]s, despite technically being [[semi-automatic firearm|semi-automatic]]) never gained any widespread usage.

Though the majority of weapons using a revolver mechanism are handguns, other firearms may also have a revolver [[Action (firearms)|action]]. These include some models of [[rifle]]s, [[shotgun]]s, [[grenade launcher]]s, and [[Revolver cannon|autocannon]]s. Revolver weapons differ from [[Gatling gun|Gatling-style]] rotary weapons in that in a revolver only the chambers rotate, while in a rotary weapon there are multiple full firearm actions with their own barrels which rotate around a common ammunition feed.

Famous revolver models include the [[Colt 1851 Navy Revolver]], the [[Webley Revolver|Webley]], the [[Colt Single Action Army]], the [[Colt Official Police]], [[Smith & Wesson Model 10]], the [[Smith & Wesson Model 29]] of ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' fame, the [[Nagant M1895]], and the [[Colt Python]].

Although largely surpassed in convenience and ammunition capacity by [[semi-automatic pistol]]s, revolvers still remain popular as back-up and off-duty handguns among [[Law enforcement in the United States|American law enforcement]] officers and [[security guards]] and are still common in the American private sector as defensive, sporting, and hunting firearms.