Types of Guns: Every Type and Action Explained (2026)

Last updated October 26th 2026

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By Nick Hall

There are three main types of guns: handguns, rifles and shotguns. Handguns are built to be fired with one or two hands without a stock. Rifles are shoulder-fired and shoot a single bullet down a rifled barrel. Shotguns are shoulder-fired and shoot shells, most often a load of pellets, from a smooth barrel. Everything else, from pistol caliber carbines to muzzleloaders and machine guns, is a variation on those three.

What really separates one gun from another inside each type is the action, the mechanism that loads, fires and ejects a round. Our parts of a gun diagrams show where it sits on each type. A pump shotgun and a semi-auto shotgun do the same job in very different ways. Below is every common type and action, a real gun you can buy for each with live prices from our 200+ retailers on October 26, 2026, and a plain answer to which type fits which job.

Table of Contents

Types of Guns at a Glance

Type	Common actions	Typical calibers	Best for	Example on this page
Semi-auto pistol	Striker-fired, hammer-fired	9mm, .380, .45 ACP	Carry, home defense	Glock 19 Gen 6
Revolver	Single action, double action	.38 Special, .357, .44	Carry, hunting, plinking	S&W 686
Bolt-action rifle	Manual bolt	.308, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30-06	Hunting, precision	Ruger American
Lever-action rifle	Manual lever	.22 LR, .30-30, .357	Hunting, fun	Henry Classic
Semi-auto rifle	Gas or blowback	5.56, .22 LR	Home defense, sport	PSA PA-15
Pistol caliber carbine	Blowback	9mm	Home defense, sport	Ruger PC Carbine
Pump shotgun	Manual slide	12, 20 gauge	Home defense, hunting	Mossberg 500
Semi-auto shotgun	Gas or inertia	12, 20 gauge	Birds, clays	Beretta A300
Break-action shotgun	Hinged, single or double barrel	12, 20, .410	Clays, birds, cowboy action	Stoeger Coach Gun
Muzzleloader	Loaded from the muzzle	.50 caliber	Muzzleloader seasons	CVA Wolf

Handguns

A handgun is any gun designed to be held and fired without a shoulder stock. They’re the easiest guns to carry and the hardest to shoot well, because the short sight radius and light weight make every flinch show. For what to look for in your first one, see our handgun buyer’s guide.

Semi-Automatic Pistols

A semi-auto pistol fires one round each time you pull the trigger, then uses the energy of that shot to eject the empty case and load the next round from a magazine in the grip. They’re the most common handguns in America, and they come in two flavors. Striker-fired pistols like the Glock have no external hammer and the same trigger pull every shot. Hammer-fired pistols like the 1911 or Beretta 92 have a visible hammer, and many have a heavier first pull and a lighter one after that. Our types of handguns guide covers every size class and trigger system.

Size is the other big split: full-size for duty and home use, compact for both, and subcompact or micro-compact for concealed carry. The Glock 19 is the classic compact.

Revolvers

A revolver holds its cartridges in a rotating cylinder, five to eight of them on most guns. In single action, you cock the hammer by hand and the trigger only drops it. In double action, one long trigger pull turns the cylinder, cocks the hammer and fires. Most modern revolvers do both. They’re simple, they handle powerful cartridges like .357 and .44 Magnum, and they don’t care what bullet shape you feed them. Our best revolvers guide breaks down every revolver type.

Derringers and Single-Shot Pistols

A derringer is a tiny pistol with one or two barrels and one shot per barrel. Single-shot pistols are the opposite extreme, long-barreled guns made for hunting or long-range handgun competition. Both are niche, and neither is a good first handgun.

Rifles

A rifle is fired from the shoulder and has spiral grooves, called rifling, cut inside the barrel to spin the bullet for accuracy. Under federal law a rifle needs a barrel of at least 16 inches and an overall length of at least 26 inches. Shorter ones are short-barreled rifles, covered further down. Rifles are the most accurate guns at distance, and the action decides how fast you can shoot one. For calibers, see our rifle caliber guide, and our types of rifles guide covers every rifle action in more depth.

Bolt-Action Rifles

You lift a handle, pull it back to eject the empty case, push it forward to load the next round, and turn it down to lock. That’s slower than a semi-auto, but a bolt locks tight and has few moving parts, which is why it’s the standard deer rifle and the base of most precision rifles. The Ruger American is the budget bolt gun most hunters start with.

Lever-Action Rifles

A lever under the receiver ejects and loads in one quick swing. Lever guns are fast, light and handy, and most feed from a tube magazine under the barrel. They’re the classic deer rifle in .30-30 and a great plinker in .22 LR, and the Henry Classic is the .22 most people start with. See our best lever-action rifles.

Semi-Automatic Rifles

A semi-auto rifle fires once per trigger pull and reloads itself, using either gas from the fired round or the recoil of a blowback bolt. The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the country, and the PSA PA-15 is one of the cheapest good ones. The Ruger 10/22 is the semi-auto .22 nearly everyone owns at some point. See our best AR-15 rifles and Ruger 10/22 review.

Pistol Caliber Carbines

A pistol caliber carbine is a rifle chambered for a handgun cartridge, almost always 9mm. Recoil is tiny, ammo is cheap, and many take the same magazines as a pistol. They’re popular for home defense and the PCC division in competition. See our best 9mm carbines.

Pump-Action and Single-Shot Rifles

Pump-action rifles work like a pump shotgun, sliding the forend to cycle, and they’re rare outside a few hunting models. Single-shot rifles hold one round and are reloaded by hand after every shot, often with a hinged break-open action. They’re simple, cheap and good for teaching a new shooter to make each shot count.

Shotguns

A shotgun is fired from the shoulder and has a smooth barrel built to fire shells. Most shells hold a load of small pellets, from tiny birdshot to buckshot, and slugs turn a shotgun into a short-range single-projectile gun. Shotguns are sized by gauge, with 12 gauge the most common and 20 gauge the lighter-kicking option. Federal law sets an 18 inch minimum barrel and 26 inch overall length. Our shotgun gauge guide and shotgun buying guide go deeper.

Pump-Action Shotguns

You slide the forend back and forward to eject the empty and load the next shell. Pumps are cheap, reliable with almost any ammo and easy to fix, which is why the Mossberg 500 is one of the best-selling shotguns ever made. See our best pump-action shotguns.

Semi-Automatic Shotguns

A semi-auto shotgun reloads itself after every shot, using either gas bled from the barrel or the gun’s own recoil, which is called inertia. Gas guns kick softer. They cost more than pumps but let you keep your hands still on a flushing bird or a clay. The Beretta A300 is a soft-shooting gas gun at a fair price. Our pump vs semi-auto shotgun guide compares the two, and our types of shotguns guide covers every shotgun action, from over/unders to bullpups.

Break-Action Shotguns

A break-action hinges open in front of the trigger guard so you can load the chambers directly. It comes three ways: single shot, side-by-side with two barrels next to each other, and over/under with one barrel on top of the other. Over/unders rule clay sports, and short side-by-sides like the Stoeger Coach Gun are the classic cowboy action shotgun. See our best over/under shotguns and best side-by-side shotguns.

Lever-Action and Bolt-Action Shotguns

Both exist and both are niche. Lever shotguns are mostly copies of the Winchester 1887, loved by cowboy action shooters. Bolt-action shotguns turn up as cheap .410s and as rifled-barrel slug guns for deer.

Muzzleloaders

A muzzleloader is loaded from the front of the barrel: powder first, then the bullet, then a primer or cap at the breech. Modern inline muzzleloaders like the CVA Wolf use a 209 shotgun primer and are accurate to a couple of hundred yards. Traditional side-lock rifles copy the guns of the 1800s. Many states give muzzleloaders their own deer season. Under 18 U.S.C. 921, a muzzleloader designed for black powder that can’t fire fixed ammunition is treated as an antique firearm, but some states treat them like any other gun, so check yours. See our best inline muzzleloaders and best traditional muzzleloaders.

Machine Guns, Short-Barreled Rifles and Other NFA Items

The National Firearms Act of 1934 covers a separate set of guns: machine guns, short-barreled rifles (a rifle barrel under 16 inches), short-barreled shotguns (a shotgun barrel under 18 inches), “any other weapons,” destructive devices and suppressors. 2026 changed a lot of this. Congress cut the tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and AOWs to $0, a federal court in Texas blocked NFA registration of those items, and on October 9, 2026 ATF said it will no longer require approval or registration for them. Our ATF NFA guidance story has the details and what is still unsettled.

Machine guns are not part of that change. A machine gun fires more than one round per trigger pull, and civilians can only own one that was registered before May 19, 1986, after a federal approval process. Destructive devices are also still regulated. State laws on all of these items can be stricter than federal law, so check yours before you buy. For a legal short shotgun alternative, see our short barrel shotguns guide.

Gun Actions Explained

The action is the part of a gun that loads a round, fires it, pulls out the empty case and gets the next one ready. It’s what makes a gun a pump, a semi-auto or a bolt gun, and it decides how fast you can shoot, how much the gun cares about ammo, and how much you need to practice. Here’s every common type side by side:

Action	How it cycles	Follow-up speed	Strength	Weak spot	Found on
Semi-automatic	Gas or recoil reloads it after every shot	Fastest	Quick follow-ups, less felt recoil	Pickier about ammo, more to clean	Pistols, rifles, shotguns
Bolt	Lift, pull, push and turn a bolt handle	Slow	Most accurate, strongest lockup	Slow for a second shot	Hunting and precision rifles
Lever	Swing a lever under the grip down and back	Fast	Slim, handy, quick	Hard to scope low, tube ammo rules	Rifles, a few shotguns
Pump	Slide the forend back and forward	Fast with practice	Runs any load	Short-stroking under stress	Shotguns, a few rifles
Revolver	Cylinder turns a fresh chamber in line	Medium	Simple, no jams from weak ammo	Five to eight rounds, slow reload	Handguns
Break	Hinge the barrel open, load by hand	Two shots, then reload	Safest to carry open, simplest	One or two rounds	Shotguns, single-shot rifles
Falling or rolling block	A lever drops or rolls a steel block	Slow	Very strong, short overall length	One round	Single-shot rifles
Automatic	Keeps firing while the trigger is held	Continuous	Volume of fire	Heavily restricted	Machine guns

How Semi-Autos Cycle

Every semi-auto uses the energy of the shot, but in one of three ways. Blowback lets the case push the bolt straight back, which works for low-pressure rounds like .22 LR, .380 and most 9mm carbines. Recoil operation lets the barrel and slide move back together for a fraction of an inch before they unlock, the tilting-barrel design inside nearly every modern 9mm pistol. Gas operation taps gas from a port in the barrel to drive the bolt, either directly, as in the AR-15, or through a piston, as in the AK and most semi-auto shotguns. Our types of rifles and types of shotguns guides go deeper, including inertia-driven shotguns.

Single-Shot Actions

A single-shot holds one round and you load it by hand. The break action hinges open like a shotgun and is the most common today. The falling block, used in the Sharps, the Winchester 1885 and the Ruger No. 1, drops a solid steel block straight down when you work a lever, and it’s strong enough for the biggest cartridges. The rolling block, made famous by Remington in the 1860s, rolls a breech block back on a pin. Single-shots are simple, short and safe, which is why they’re still a favorite first gun.

Action vs Trigger: Single Action, Double Action and Striker

People mix these up, but they’re two different things. The action is how the gun loads the next round. The trigger system is what the trigger does when you press it:

• Single action: the trigger only drops a hammer that’s already cocked. Short and light. The 1911 and the Colt Single Action Army work this way.
• Double action/single action: the first pull cocks and drops the hammer, then the gun re-cocks itself. The Beretta 92FS is the classic example.
• Double action only: every pull cocks and drops the hammer. Long and consistent, common on pocket revolvers.
• Striker-fired: a spring-loaded firing pin is partly cocked by the slide and released by the trigger. Glock, Sig P365 and most modern carry pistols.

So a Beretta 92FS is a semi-auto action with a DA/SA trigger, and a Smith & Wesson 686 is a revolver action with a DA/SA trigger. Our types of handguns guide compares every trigger system in a table.

Which Action Should You Pick?

For a first gun, the most forgiving actions are a pump shotgun, a semi-auto .22 or a revolver: simple to learn and tolerant of cheap ammo. For defense, a semi-auto pistol or a pump or semi-auto shotgun. For hunting at distance, a bolt-action. For fun, a lever gun. A fully automatic gun, or a burst-fire one, which federal law also counts as a machine gun, is only legal for civilians if it was registered before May 19, 1986.

Rimfire vs Centerfire

Every cartridge gun is either rimfire or centerfire. In a rimfire round like .22 LR, the firing pin crushes the rim of the case to ignite it. The ammo is cheap and quiet, perfect for learning and small game, but it can’t be reloaded. In a centerfire round, the pin hits a primer in the middle of the case base. That handles far more pressure, so nearly every defensive and hunting cartridge is centerfire. Our handgun calibers chart compares the common ones.

Which Type of Gun Should You Buy?

• Concealed carry: A compact or subcompact semi-auto pistol, or a small revolver. See our best concealed carry handguns.
• Home defense: A pump or semi-auto 12 or 20 gauge shotgun, a pistol caliber carbine, or an AR-15. All three are easier to hit with than a handgun.
• Deer hunting: A bolt-action rifle in .308, 6.5 Creedmoor or .30-06, a lever gun in .30-30, or a muzzleloader for the muzzleloader season.
• Birds and clays: A semi-auto or over/under shotgun.
• A first gun or a fun gun: A .22 LR rifle like the Ruger 10/22 or Henry Classic. Cheap ammo means more practice.

Still deciding? Our best handgun for a beginner and best shotgun for beginners guides narrow it down, and our gun deals page shows today’s best prices across every type.

Frequently Asked Questions