I've come to the personal definition that it is any gun with a "shorter than normal" barrel length.
So my Cimarron Thunderer, with its 3 1/2" barrel fits, as the shortest "normal" Single Action Army barrel is 4 3/4. My Officers Model Colt, with its 3" fits, as the standard length for a 1911 is 5".
But, as I say, that's my personal definition.
Most folks would probably agree with the "two inches or less" thing.
I think I'm with Alpo. I have an S&W model 66 with a 2 1/4 (or 1/5?) barrel and I've always considered it a snub nose, though people have corrected me over the years.
I wondered that my self.
So thanks to Google.
Snubnosed revolver according to Wikipedia is A revolver that has a barrel of 3" or less.
It goes on about how it came about but typing with one hand would take forever.
Mike
Dating myself a bit, but in the South Bronx a short barreled (less than 3" or so) revolver was always a "Smeeweston Stubnose Rebolber", regardless of whether it was a Colt, Korth, RG, or whatever. You'll just have to take my word for how funny that sounds when rattled off in Frito Bandito-ese.
Picked this one up a few months back and believe it qualifies.
Truly a great buy for the buck IMO, the RI M206 is a more than decent pistol for its intended purpose.
Nothing to do with one another. A Saturday Night Special I believe to be a cheap revolver. One of those pull the trigger and hope it goes Bang and not BOOM!
I believe "a snubnose" (usually "a snubnose 38") is a term invented by writers of "pulp" detective fiction, back in the 30s.
"Saturday Night Special" is a term pulled from obscurity by the anti gun folk, back in the 60s.
Back in the late 1800s there was a class of small 22 revolvers that sold for about a buck.
Collectors nowadays refer to them as "Suicide Specials". One if the brand names (and there were dozens of them) was Saturday Night Special.
It was sold as a small gun you stick in your overalls pocket, when you went down to the bar on Saturday night. If a fight broke out, it was better than having a knife or a razor (they were marketed towards the colored folk).
So in the 60s the anti gunners brought the name back, saying that any SMALL or INEXPENSIVE pistol was a Saturday Night Special, and thus was evil incarnate.
And with the passage of GCA68, many of the best guns in the world were banned from importation, because their size made them fall into the catagory of "Saturday Night Special".
Never really cared for the terms "snub nosed" or "belly gun." A short barreled revolver should be called just that, in my meaningless opinion.. Same with the Saturday night special title.
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