Types of Firearms
TL;DR: Article Summary
- At the broadest design level, most firearms are categorized as handguns, rifles, or shotguns.
- Firearm design type describes the general form of the firearm, while action type describes how it loads, fires, extracts, ejects, and resets.
- Manual-action firearms require the shooter to operate the action between shots, such as break-action, bolt-action, lever-action, or pump-action firearms.
- Self-loading firearms use energy from firing to cycle the action, but self-loading does not automatically mean fully automatic.
- Semi-automatic firearms fire one round per trigger press, while fully automatic firearms can fire multiple rounds with one continuous trigger press.
- Propulsion method describes the energy source used to launch the projectile, such as black powder, smokeless powder, compressed gas, or electromagnetic force.
- Firearms may also be described by broad bore-size categories, such as small bore, medium bore, large bore, big bore, or shotgun gauge.
- Bore-size categories are useful for general classification, but exact chambering or gauge markings determine ammunition compatibility.
Introduction
Firearms can be categorized in several different ways. A firearm may be described by its physical design, action type, propulsion method, operating system, ammunition type, intended role, or legal classification. These categories often overlap, but they do not mean the same thing.
For example, an AR-15 may be a rifle by design, semi-automatic by action type, centerfire by ammunition type, gas-operated by cycling method, and regulated differently depending on its barrel length, stock configuration, receiver status, or other features. A pump-action shotgun, bolt-action rifle, and semi-automatic pistol all launch projectiles using pressure, but they store ammunition, cycle the action, and fit legal categories differently.
This article explains the major firearm categories at a practical level. The goal is not to cover every historical design or legal edge case, but to give beginners the vocabulary needed to understand firearm function, configuration, and regulation.
🔵 Firearm Design Types
The broadest way to classify firearms is by physical design. At the foundational level, the most useful categories are handguns, rifles, and shotguns. These categories describe the firearm’s general shape, how it is held, how it is aimed, and what type of ammunition or projectile system it is generally designed around.
Other terms, such as carbine, short-barreled rifle, pistol-caliber carbine, AR pistol, bullpup, precision rifle, etc. add more detail. They may describe barrel length, layout, legal status, intended role, cartridge type, or platform configuration. They do not replace the three basic design categories in a beginner-level classification system.
🔹 Handguns
Handguns are compact firearms designed to be fired with one or both hands rather than from the shoulder. They are commonly used for personal defense, concealed carry, duty use, competition, training, and recreational shooting.
The two major handgun patterns are pistols and revolvers. A pistol generally uses a chamber that is part of the barrel and commonly feeds from a magazine. A revolver uses a rotating cylinder with multiple chambers. Both are handguns, but they store, chamber, and fire ammunition differently.
🔹 Rifles
Rifles are long guns designed to be fired from the shoulder. They generally use rifled barrels, which spin the projectile to improve stability and accuracy. Rifles are commonly used for hunting, defense, competition, training, military and law enforcement applications, and long-range shooting.
Rifles may use many different action types, including bolt-action, lever-action, pump-action, semi-automatic, and select-fire systems. A carbine is generally a shorter or handier rifle configuration, while a short-barreled rifle is a specific legal category in the United States. Those terms add detail, but they do not need to replace the basic rifle category.
🔹 Shotguns
Shotguns are firearms designed primarily to fire shotshells, which may contain multiple pellets or a single slug. Most shotguns use smoothbore barrels, although rifled shotgun barrels exist for specialized slug use. Shotguns are commonly used for hunting, sport shooting, home defense, breaching, and specialty applications.
Shotguns are usually described by gauge rather than caliber. A 12-gauge shotgun, for example, is not named using the same measurement system as a .308 rifle or 9mm handgun. Shotgun terminology developed around bore size and payload rather than bullet diameter alone.
For a beginner, the key distinction is simple: More specific terms can be introduced later when discussing legal categories, barrel length, platform configuration, and intended use.
- Handguns are designed to be fired from the hands
- Rifles are shoulder-fired firearms that generally use rifled barrels
- Shotguns are firearms designed primarily around shotshells
More specific terms can be introduced later when discussing legal categories, barrel length, platform configuration, and intended use.
🔵 Firearm Action Types
Action type describes how a firearm loads, fires, extracts, ejects, and resets between shots. It is one of the most important mechanical classifications because it affects handling, rate of fire, maintenance, reliability, recoil behavior, and legal classification.
Action type is independent from firearm design type.
🔹 Manual-Action Firearms
Manual-action firearms require the shooter to physically operate the firearm between shots. This may involve opening the action, cycling a bolt, working a lever, or moving a pump/forend. Manual actions are common in hunting rifles, precision rifles, shotguns, historical firearms, and simple sporting firearms.
Some manual-action firearms are single-shot designs, meaning they hold and fire one round before the shooter reloads them. Others are repeating firearms, meaning they feed additional cartridges from a magazine, tube, cylinder, or other ammunition source.
Break-Action
A break-action firearm opens on a hinge, exposing the chamber or chambers for loading and unloading. Many single-shot rifles, double-barrel shotguns, and combination guns use break-action designs. Break-action firearms are mechanically simple and easy to inspect visually.
Bolt-Action
A bolt-action firearm uses a manually operated bolt to unlock the action, extract and eject the spent case, chamber a new round, and lock the action closed. Bolt-action rifles are common in hunting, precision shooting, military history, and long-range applications because they are strong, simple, and mechanically consistent.
Lever-Action
A lever-action firearm uses a lever near the trigger guard to cycle the action. Moving the lever opens the action, extracts and ejects the spent case, loads a new round, and closes the action. Lever-action rifles are strongly associated with traditional sporting rifles, hunting rifles, and historical repeating firearms.
Pump-Action
A pump-action firearm uses a sliding forend or operating handle to cycle the action manually. Pump-action shotguns are especially common, although pump-action rifles also exist. The shooter fires one round, moves the forend rearward to extract and eject, then moves it forward to chamber the next round.
🔹 Self-Loading Firearms
Self-loading firearms use energy from firing to cycle the action. Depending on the design, this energy may come from gas pressure, recoil, blowback force, or another operating mechanism. Self-loading does not automatically mean fully automatic. Most civilian self-loading firearms are semi-automatic.
Semi-Automatic
A semi-automatic firearm fires one round per trigger press and uses energy from the fired cartridge to cycle the action and load the next round. After each shot, the shooter must release and press the trigger again to fire another round. Semi-automatic designs are common in modern pistols, rifles, and shotguns.
Fully Automatic
A fully automatic firearm can fire more than one round with a single continuous trigger press. As long as the trigger remains pressed and ammunition is available, the firearm continues cycling and firing until the shooter releases the trigger, the ammunition supply is exhausted, or the firearm stops functioning.
Select-Fire
A select-fire firearm allows the shooter to choose between different fire modes, such as semi-automatic, burst, or fully automatic fire. Select-fire capability is generally associated with military and law enforcement firearms and is heavily regulated in the United States.
The practical distinction is simple: a semi-automatic firearm fires once per trigger press, while a fully automatic firearm can fire multiple rounds with one continuous trigger press. That difference matters mechanically, practically, and legally.
| Firearm Action Type Comparison | ||
|---|---|---|
| Action Type | Cycle Method | Loading Pattern |
| Action TypeBreak-Action | Cycle MethodManual | Loading PatternUsually single-shot or double-barrel |
| Action TypeBolt-Action | Cycle MethodManual | Loading PatternSingle-shot or repeating |
| Action TypeLever-Action | Cycle MethodManual | Loading PatternUsually repeating |
| Action TypePump-Action | Cycle MethodManual | Loading PatternUsually repeating |
| Action TypeSemi-Automatic | Cycle MethodSelf-loading | Loading PatternRepeating |
| Action TypeFully Automatic | Cycle MethodAutomatic | Loading PatternRepeating |
| Action TypeSelect-Fire | Cycle MethodSelectable | Loading PatternRepeating |
|
||
🔵 Propulsion Methods
Propulsion method describes the energy source used to launch the projectile. Most modern firearms use an explosive propellant, but firearm-adjacent projectile weapons may use compressed gas or electromagnetic force. These categories are useful for basic understanding, even though Para Bellum University primarily focuses on modern smokeless-powder cartridge firearms.
🔹 Black Powder Firearms
Black powder is the original gunpowder propellant. It is a mixture of fuel and oxidizer that burns rapidly when ignited, producing hot gas, smoke, and pressure. Traditional black powder firearms are often muzzleloaded, meaning the powder charge and projectile are loaded from the front of the barrel rather than from the chamber end.
Black powder firearms remain relevant for historical collecting, hunting, reenactment, and recreational shooting. They operate differently from most modern cartridge firearms, so they are useful context but not the main focus of most PBU technical content.
🔹 Smokeless Powder Firearms
Smokeless powder is the dominant propellant used in modern cartridge firearms. Compared with black powder, it produces far less visible smoke, generates higher working pressures, and is better suited to compact, repeatable, high-performance ammunition.
Most modern rifles, pistols, and shotguns use cartridges or shells loaded with smokeless powder. In a typical modern cartridge, the ammunition includes a case, primer, propellant, and projectile. When the firing mechanism strikes the primer, the primer ignites the powder charge, and the resulting gas pressure drives the projectile through the barrel.
Rimfire Cartridges
Rimfire cartridges place the priming compound inside the rim of the cartridge case. When the firing pin strikes the rim, it crushes the rim and ignites the priming compound. Rimfire ammunition is common in small-caliber firearms, especially .22 LR rifles and pistols used for training, target shooting, plinking, and small-game hunting.
Centerfire Cartridges
Centerfire cartridges use a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. When the firing pin or striker hits the primer, the primer ignites the powder charge inside the case. Centerfire cartridges are used across most modern defensive, hunting, sporting, law enforcement, and military firearms.
🔹 Pneumatic Weapons
Airguns and pneumatic guns use compressed air or gas rather than explosive propellant. They can be useful for training, marksmanship practice, pest control, small-game hunting, and low-cost recreational shooting. They are often discussed alongside firearms because they share similar handling and marksmanship concepts, but they are mechanically and legally distinct from modern cartridge firearms in many contexts.
🔹 Electromagnetic Weapons
Railguns and coilguns use electromagnetic force to accelerate a projectile. Railguns use conductive rails and an armature, while coilguns use electromagnetic coils arranged around a bore. These systems are mostly relevant to military research, engineering experimentation, and hobbyist projects rather than ordinary civilian firearm ownership or small-arms design.
For most readers, the practical focus is modern cartridge firearms: rifles, handguns, and shotguns that use black powder or smokeless powder combustion to launch a projectile. Most deeper PBU content focuses specifically on modern centerfire firearm systems.
🔵 Bore Size
Firearms are sometimes described by bore-size category. Terms like small bore, medium bore, large bore, and big bore are broad descriptors that help group firearms by general projectile or bore size. These terms are useful for casual classification, but they are not precise compatibility labels.
🔹 Small Bore Firearms
Small-bore firearms generally use smaller-diameter projectiles and are often associated with low recoil, lower ammunition cost, training, target shooting, small-game hunting, and recreational shooting. Common examples include .22 LR rifles and pistols, although the exact meaning of “small bore” depends on context.
🔹 Medium-Bore Firearms
Medium-bore firearms occupy the middle ground between small-bore training or varmint firearms and larger hunting or specialty firearms. Many common defensive, sporting, hunting, and service cartridges fall into this broad category. Examples may include 9mm handguns, 5.56 NATO rifles, .243 Winchester rifles, .270 Winchester rifles, .308 Winchester rifles, and similar general-purpose firearms.
🔹 Large-Bore and Big-Bore Firearms
Large-bore and big-bore firearms use larger projectiles or larger bore diameters and are often associated with heavier recoil, larger game, specialty hunting, dangerous-game use, historical firearms, or high-energy applications. Examples may include .45-70 Government rifles, .375 H&H Magnum rifles, .458 Winchester Magnum rifles, big-bore revolvers, and similar firearms.
Final Thoughts
Some manual-action firearms are single-shot designs, meaning they hold and fire one round before the shooter reloads them. Others are repeating firearms, meaning they feed additional cartridges from a magazine, tube, cylinder, or other ammunition source.
For beginners, the most important starting point is simple: handguns, rifles, and shotguns are broad design categories; manual and self-loading actions describe how the firearm cycles; and semi-automatic does not mean fully automatic. Once those distinctions are clear, more advanced topics like ammunition compatibility, operating systems, ballistics, maintenance, and firearm regulation become much easier to understand.