Illustrated edition of the British author, which describes modern revolvers and pistols of all the leading arms companies in the world and provides their characteristics. The date of birth of such weapons can be considered the expiration time of Colt's patents (1849 and 1857), which restrained the development of self-propelled personal weapons with a rotating drum magazine in the UK and the USA. In 1856, Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson created an American company that still bears their name - Smith-Wesson, for the development and subsequent production of a revolver using the French metal side fire cartridge. This marked the beginning of the rapid development of the American arms industry over the next fifty years. For a wide range of literature lovers about handguns.