I'm always grateful to see and learn the roots of words because it's important to know where things of all sorts come from, especially words. But, in modern usage, I've heard many a knowledgeable firearms guy distinguish "pistols" from "wheel guns" in this way, so I'm still not clear whether that's correct or not, so I guess my question is, by today's common usage, is this distinction correct?
Me, I think a revolver is a pistol, and a semi-automatic handgun is also a pistol.
The only time I noted a similar difference was when s SGT instructed me that "This is your rifle, this is your gun, one is for killing. . . "