Single-shot

Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded after each shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, and many centuries passed before multi-shot designs became commonplace. Single-shot designs are less complex than revolvers or magazine-fed firearms, and many single-shot designs are still produced by many manufacturers, in both cartridge- and non-cartridge varieties, from zip guns to the highest-quality shooting-match weapons.

History

Pre-cartridge era

Most firearms before the era of fixed cartridges were single-shot and muzzleloading, with the exception of the cap-and-ball revolvers, such as Samuel Colt's, which appeared shortly before the cartridge era.

Cartridge era

Rifles

Many of the early cartridge-fed rifles were single-shot designs, taking advantage of the strength and simplicity of single-shot actions. A good example is the "trapdoor" or Allin action used in early cartridge conversions of 1863 Springfield muzzleloading rifles. The conversion consisted of filing out (or later milling out) the rear of the barrel, and attaching a folding bolt, the "trapdoor", that flipped up and forwards to allow the cartridge to be loaded in the breech. Once loaded, the bolt was closed and latched in place, holding the round securely in place. The bolt contained a firing pin that used the existing percussion hammer, so no changes were required to the lock. After firing, the act of opening the bolt would partially extract the fired case from the chamber, allowing it to be removed. In 1866, the United States standardized on the .50-70 cartridge, chambered in trapdoor conversions of rifled muskets that had been used in the American Civil War. The trapdoor mechanism continued with the adoption of the Springfield 1873 rifle, chambered in the new .45-70 cartridge. The Springfield stayed in service until 1893, when it was replaced by the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle.

One-shot (comics)

A one-shot is a story created as a single issue found in comic books. They sometimes serves as a pilot to field interest in a new series.

United States

In the United States, one-shots are usually labeled with a "#1" despite there being no following issues, and are sometimes subtitled as "specials". On occasion, a character or concept will appear in a series of one-shots, in cases where the subject matter is not financially lucrative enough to merit an ongoing or limited series, but still popular enough to be published on a regular basis, often annually or quarterly. A current example of a series of one-shots would be Marvel Comics' Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius publications. This type of one-shot is not to be confused with a comic book annual, which is typically a companion publication to an established ongoing series.

Other countries

The term has also been borrowed into the Franco-Belgian comics industry, with basically the same meaning, although there, it mostly refers to albums.

Single Shot (disambiguation)

Single Shot may refer to: