Letter: S

A pistol mechanism which requires the manual cocking of the hammer or striker before pressure on the trigger releases the firing mechanism.

A type of revolver in which the hammer must be cocked manually to rotate the cylinder for each shot. The firearm is then discharged by a pull of the trigger. The process is repeated for each shot.

Smokeless propellant powder which has colloided nitrocellulose as its main ingredient, and contains no other major energy-producing component. The nitrogen content of the nitrocellulose is usually between 13.1% and 13.2%. In the United States, single base powders contain no nitroglycerine, whereas in some European countries powders containing less than 10% nitroglycerine are considered single base. See Double Base Powder for comparison.

A strap design that attaches to only one point on the firearm.

A firearm with no means in the mechanism for storing or loading more than a single cartridge housed in the chamber of the barrel.

An action that will only accept a single cartridge that must be manually loaded into the firearm’s chamber each time it is fired.

1. A trigger mechanism in which the trigger travel is relatively short and there is no significant sensible change in pull force from the beginning of movement up to the point of firing. 2. A trigger which releases with a single pull.

A trigger mechanism for multiple barrel firearms wherein repeated pulls of one trigger fires the barrels successively.

A type of trigger mechanism found on some double-barrel or over-under shotguns consisting of two triggers. The front trigger functions as a conventional non-selective single trigger, while the rear trigger will fire only the barrel with the tighter choke.

A sight picture where the top of the sight is tangent to the bottom of the bullseye.