Video: How the Rifle and Handgun Fire

On screen: HOW A BOLT-ACTION RIFLE FIRES

Here’s how a rifle fires and loads. Moving the bolt handle here loads a cartridge and works to push the firing pin back and then holds it under spring tension here. When the trigger is pulled, the firing pin moves forward with great force. It strikes the primer, igniting the gunpowder and propelling the bullet out the barrel.

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.