Video: How a Semi-Automatic Handgun Fires

On screen: SEMI-AUTOMATIC HANDGUN

Here is a semi-automatic handgun. Pulling back on this slide cocks the handgun. With a loaded chamber, pulling the trigger fires the gun. Recoil moves the slide backward, and the empty cartridge is extracted. As the slide moves back into place, it pulls with it another cartridge from the magazine, thus continuing the firing cycle until the shooter is out of rounds. Let’s watch it in slow motion.