As firearm design standardized around prevailing types of locks, a unique nomenclature evolved for describing specific parts common to most or all guns. That terminology grew along with the emergence ...

In the mid-1980s, a powerful new handgun quickly achieved gun celebrity status. The Desert Eagle was an innovative design that ported over heavy revolver rounds to the semiautomatic pistol platform.

Among modern gunmakers, Dan Wesson is a particularly revered figure. In the late 1960s, he broke off from the family business—that business being Smith & Wesson—to start his own gun company. The ...

One of the biggest advancements in firearms was repeating firearms. The revolver was the first successful repeating handgun, and even today, the basic design has remained the same. A revolving ...

Bitten by the cowboy handgun bug early on—and influenced by no less an innovator than Elmer Keith—the author finds that, in ...

IF YOU WANT to prove once and for all that your gun means no more to you than a hammer on your workbench, etch your brand into it with a Dremel tool. That’s exactly what someone did to the side plate ...