A pistol is any handgun with its firing chamber built directly into the barrel. Which sounds technical, until you actually shoot one. That's the one detail separating a Glock from a revolver, and it's the whole reason this guide exists. Walk up to our counter in Riga and you'll find thirteen of them racked and waiting. Four of them carry a reputation that reaches well past this bunker. This guide breaks down what actually makes the category, and by this afternoon, you could be holding one yourself.
TL;DR: A pistol keeps its firing chamber built into the barrel, no spinning cylinder involved. We stock 13 of them, and four carry real worldwide reputations: the Glock 17 (the model that started a 20-million-strong family), the CZ 75 (the most copied pistol design after the Colt 1911), the Beretta 92 FS (cinema's favourite sidearm), and the Makarov (the Eastern Bloc's standard-issue sidearm for decades). Standard shooting packages are Glock 17-anchored, but a custom package lets you shoot any pistol on this list.
What Is a Pistol, Exactly?
A pistol keeps its firing chamber inside the barrel itself, not tucked into a separate rotating piece. But a revolver works differently. It carries its rounds in a cylinder that spins a fresh chamber into place with every trigger pull. But hey, nobody's going to correct you for calling a revolver a "pistol" at the counter. Most people don't. Different guts, though. Different machines under the hood, doing the same basic job.
Most modern pistols in this category are semi-automatic: one trigger pull, one round, and the fired cartridge's own energy cycles the next into place. Some, like the Glock 17, are striker-fired. No external hammer. Just an internal striker snapping forward, simple as that. Others, like the CZ 75, run a double-action/single-action trigger: a hammer-based system where the first shot comes from a long, heavy pull and every other that comes after comes light. Neither system is "better," whatever the forum arguments tell you. They're just different tools, different learning curves.
Stand at the counter long enough and the same handful of terms comes up, every time:
- Slide: the top part that racks back with every shot, ejecting the spent casing and chambering the next round
- Magazine: the removable box that holds your ammunition, not to be confused with a revolver's cylinder
- Striker vs hammer: the two systems that actually fire the round, covered above
- Calibre: the width of the ammunition a specific model is built to fire. Swap calibres between two guns on the wall and you'll be sent straight back to the counter
None of it is complicated once someone's actually shown you. That's the whole job of our instructor, standing right there before your first shot ever leaves the barrel.
The World's Most Famous Handguns (and Yes, You Can Shoot Them Here)
Most guns on a range wall earn quiet niche respect, and nothing more. But four of our pistols do something rarer. Their reputations crossed oceans, and pop culture followed.
Glock 17. The pistol that started it all for the brand, back in the 1980s. It's also the reason the wider Glock family has since sold more than 20 million handguns worldwide, across every model in the lineup. The G17 just happened to be first through the door. No hammer. No external safety lever. Just a simple, reliable striker-fired action that redefined what a service sidearm could be. It anchors every single package that we sell, every tier, no exceptions.
CZ 75.The most copied handgun design in the world, second only to the Colt 1911, cloned and licensed by manufacturers from Italy to China. Its double-stack magazine and buttery DA/SA trigger were good enough to spawn an entire category: the "Wonder Nine." Patents were never fully public. That made the design easy to copy and nearly impossible to kill off.
Beretta 92 FS. The gun Hollywood reaches for when a scene needs a sidearm the whole cinema recognises on sight, and the direct lineage behind the American M9 service pistol. Military and police units worldwide have carried some version of it for decades. So have plenty of civilians, long before most of them ever saw it on a screen. Call it the wall's movie gun. It's the one an armourer hands the lead actor when the script just says "handgun."
Makarov. More than 5 million produced by the Soviet Union and Russia alone. East German, Bulgarian, and Chinese variants push the true total well past 6 million. That's a lot of steel. For most of the Cold War, if a soldier or officer stood east of Berlin carrying a sidearm, there was a real chance this was it, tucked into a holster with a story attached.
| Pistol | Claim to fame | Included in |
|---|---|---|
| Glock 17 | Started a 20M+-strong family, the modern standard | Every package (DELTA, BRAVO, ALPHA, LOVE) |
| CZ 75 | World's most-copied pistol design after the 1911 | BRAVO, ALPHA |
| Beretta 92 FS | The "movie pistol," M9 lineage | Part of the wider arsenal |
| Makarov | 5M+ produced, Eastern Bloc's standard sidearm | Part of the wider arsenal |
The Rest of the Lineup
Fame isn't a requirement for being a genuinely good pistol. The other nine in GunRange's lineup earn their spot on merit, not headlines:
- Jericho 941F (Israel) and Tanfoglio Combat (Italy): both serious, accurate service-style pistols
- H&K USP Compact (Germany), the compact sibling of H&K's well-regarded USP line
- SIG Sauer P228 and P239 (Switzerland), two dependable compact duty pistols from a brand that doesn't miss
- Walther PDP and PPQ M2 4 (Germany), modern, reliable entries in Walther's long-running pistol lineup
- Astra 100 (Spain) and CZ Combat 85 (Czech Republic), solid, well-built options that round out the wall
Every one of them is loaded and checked before it ever reaches your hands. Nothing's left to chance. The full arsenal, pistols included, is worth a browse before you book, if you want to see the whole wall in one place.
Want to Shoot More Than the Standard Lineup?
Fair's fair: the Glock 17 anchors every standard package, DELTA, BRAVO, and ALPHA alike, riding alongside a rotating cast of SMGs, rifles, and shotguns. It earned that anchor spot honestly. But if you've just read four paragraphs about the CZ 75, the Beretta 92 FS, and the Makarov, one Glock probably isn't going to cut it.
That's what a custom package is for. Beggars can't be choosers, they say. Custom package shooters can. Tell our GunRange.lv employees which pistols you actually want in your hand, and they'll build the session around your picks instead of handing you the default flight. A few of the requests that come up most:
- The CZ 75, for that Wonder Nine trigger everyone talks about
- The Beretta 92 FS, for the movie-star recognisability
- The Makarov, for the Cold War weight in your hand
- Any combination of the other nine, if you'd rather build your own tour of the wall
All 13 pistols are bookable this way, not just whichever three happen to sit in a preset tier.
No firearms licence is required. Standard package or custom, it makes no difference. None of it needs one, full stop. The full range rules cover everything else you're expected to know before you arrive. Our certified instructor loads, checks, and hands you each handgun individually, then walks you through the fundamentals before a single round goes downrange.
Our Look at Pistols
Anyone can put a gun in a display case and call it inventory. That part's easy. What actually earns a handgun a real reputation is a century of soldiers and police officers trusting it, generation after generation, when a jam or a bad trigger meant something far worse than a bad range day. Our weapon lineup happens to include four of the handguns responsible for that reputation, and none of them sit behind glass. You load them, you aim, and you feel exactly why a Glock became the standard and why a CZ 75 spawned a whole generation of imitators.
Reading about a legendary sidearm is one thing. Pulling the trigger on it is another, and that's the whole reason this list exists instead of a spec sheet. A photo of a Makarov tells you what it looks like. Standing in a converted Soviet bunker and firing one tells you what half a century of Eastern Bloc soldiers actually felt in their hand. You don't need to be Bond, Bonnie, or Clyde to feel it. You need five rounds, a proper stance, and an instructor who knows exactly what they're doing. The proof isn't in the pudding here. It's in the paper target you walk out with.
Conclusion
A pistol is a simple mechanical idea: chamber built into the barrel, cylinder left out of it entirely, done a thousand different ways since the design first appeared. Four of those builds became genuinely famous worldwide. All four are sitting on a range table in a Riga bunker right now, waiting for someone to pick them up.
You don't need to know the difference between striker-fired and DA/SA before you arrive. Nobody checks. You just need to book a package and let the instructor handle the rest.
Book your shooting package at GunRange, standard or custom, and find out which legendary pistol feels like yours.
Every legend on that wall started as someone's first pull of the trigger.
FAQ
What's the difference between a pistol and a revolver?
A pistol's firing chamber sits inside the barrel itself. A revolver stores its ammunition in a rotating cylinder that lines up a fresh chamber with every pull of the trigger. Most modern pistols are semi-automatic too, cycling the next round on their own. Revolvers leave that job to the cylinder's rotation.
Which pistols can I shoot at GunRange.lv?
We stock 13 pistols. Four carry genuine worldwide reputations: the Glock 17, CZ 75, Beretta 92 FS, and Makarov. The rest of the lineup fills out fast: the Jericho 941F, H&K USP Compact, SIG Sauer P228 and P239, Tanfoglio Combat, Walther PDP and PPQ M2 4, Astra 100, and CZ Combat 85, all bookable across our packages.
Do I need a firearms licence to shoot a pistol at GunRange.lv?
No. None of our packages require a firearms licence. A certified instructor loads and supervises every weapon on this list, pistols included, from your first shot to your last.
Can I choose exactly which pistols I shoot?
Yes, and it's an easy yes! Standard packages are built around the Glock 17, a solid, proven pick. A custom package hands you the whole wall instead: all 13 pistols, CZ 75, Beretta 92 FS, and Makarov included. Tell our employees the models you want, and they'll build the session around them instead of the other way round.
What's the difference between a striker-fired and a hammer-fired pistol?
Glock 17 style has no external hammer, just an internal striker that snaps forward on every pull, the same weight every time. The CZ 75 does it the older way: a visible hammer and a double-action/single-action trigger, long and heavy on the first shot, short and light on every one after.
Which pistol should a first-time shooter try?
The Glock 17, hands down! No external safety lever to fumble for, and a trigger pull that stays light and consistent shot after shot. GunRange's instructor can walk you through the whole manual of arms in under a minute, which is exactly why it anchors the standard packages.