Video: How the Handgun Fires

Transcript for How a Double-Action Revolver Fires

A typical double-action revolver looks like this. The ammunition is carried here, in chambers in a rotating cylinder. A double-action revolver can be fired one of two ways: single-action or double-action.

Here is a single-action cock. The hammer is pulled back, and the revolver is cocked. With a loaded cartridge in the top chamber, pulling the trigger fires the revolver. To fire it double-action, the shooter simply pulls the trigger. And here’s how it looks in real life in slow motion.