Sometimes a gun nickname is a term of endearment. Other times they stem from fear or detraction. Slang gun names can be derived from a weapon’s appearance, its sound when firing, a defining attribute, its impact on the battlefield, or sometimes as a clever play on the firearm’s official designation. However they originated, the most memorable gun nicknames include an element of truth and help cement a weapon’s legacy.

From the bottom upward: The Peacemaker, the Yellowboy, and the Gun that Won the West, three of the most well-known colloquial gun names.

In an effort to narrow our list, we’ll try to avoid overly broad-brush terms like Smoke Wagon, Boomstick, and Saturday Night Special, as well as artillery and grenade launcher slang like Stovepipe, Thumper, Screaming Mimi, and Bloop Gun and instead keep our focus on firearms. Here are our selections for the most famous gun nicknames, presented in alphabetical order.

The BAR

Slang gun names and military culture go hand-in-hand, and the BAR acronym was as catchy as it was obvious. Developed near the end of WW1, the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle was quickly adopted by the US Military and became a signature weapon for American infantry in WW2 and beyond. The gun's nickname sprang from the weapon's initials, “B-A-R”, a term that was easy to remember and soon became the rifle’s most common unofficial designation.

The BAR, a famous gun name for the Browning Automatic Rifle.

The Beecher's Bible

According to the Kansas History Society, the gun nickname "Beecher's Bible" became synonymous with the "Slant Breech" Sharps rifle and carbine after the summary of a speech by Reverend Henry Ward Beecher was printed in the New York Tribune on February 8, 1856, where Beecher reportedly asserted, "The Sharps Rifle was a truly moral agency, and that there was more moral power in one of those instruments, so far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned than in a hundred Bibles."

Hundreds of Slant Breech Sharps were successfully shipped to abolitionist Free State settlers during the Bleeding Kansas conflict between 1854 and 1859. The guns were generally disguised as less controversial cargo, with cases marked as "Books" and "Bibles" in order to conceal the firearms from pro-slavery forces and federal and state authorities.

The “Slant Breech” Sharps Rifle models are also nicknamed for the slanted angle of the breechblocks and breech end of their barrels.

The Belgian Rattlesnake

With the outbreak of WW1, the invading Germans faced fierce resistance from the Belgian Army and their limited but strategically deployed Lewis guns, an invention of U.S. Army Lt. Col. Isaac Newton Lewis. The distinctive “tacka-tacka-tacka“ rattling of the weapon and the hit-and-run tactics employed by the Belgian forces earned the gun the fitting appellation of “Belgian Rattlesnake” from the Western media, with numerous period papers publishing stories similar to the November 28, 1914 article from The Courier-Post of Camden, New Jersey accounted below.

"The gun used by the Belgians and known as the “Belgian Rattlesnake" is of the machine gun class. It receives its name from the fact that while it is in action it has a spiteful whirr not unlike the sound of a rattlesnake just before it strikes its victim. Five hundred shells per minute are sent out by the “rattlesnake,” which weighs less than thirty pounds."

As one of the lightest machine guns of the period, the Lewis Gun could be maneuvered to strike without warning, like its rattlesnake namesake, then quickly moved to another position.

The Blunderbuss

Most firearms fans are familiar with the blunderbuss, a smoothbore short-barreled long gun with a flared muzzle that was ideal for loading powder and loose shot. The gun's famous nickname stems from the Dutch word ‘donderbus’, or thunder pipe, the blunderbuss specialized in defending ships from boarding parties, protecting carriages from highwaymen, and offering cavalry a devastating blast of shot or buck and ball at close range. From at least 1761, the name "Blunderbuss" was in common usage in English newspapers.

The blunderbuss, a cool gun name for one of the most potent close-range firearms of the 18th century.

The Broomhandle

The Mauser C96 self-loading pistol’s “Broomhandle” moniker quickly caught on in the early 20th century, a reference to the handgun’s unique round wooden grip. The gun’s nickname soon became a catch-all term for the entire series of C96 pistol models manufactured by Mauser and its subsequent foreign copycats. Mauser eventually embraced the popular nickname and even used it in official promotion campaigns in the Western market.

The Broomhandle C96 pistol’s unique silhouette has made it a favorite of Hollywood over the decades, featured onscreen in period dramas like Peaky Blinders and serving as the basis for Han Solo’s DL-44 Heavy Blaster, perhaps the preeminent Star Wars gun.

The Brown Bess

One of the most famous gun nicknames in firearms history, the Brown Bess was used to denote the typical British infantry muskets that served from 1722 through the early 1830s. In 1785, English author Francis Grose published an index of informal words titled 'Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue’ and his entry for the Bess reads, “‘Brown Bess. A soldier’s firelock. To hug Brown Bess; to carry a firelock, or serve as a private soldier.”

The Brown Bess nickname appears to be derived from the slang “Bess,” which was an 18th century reference to women of ill repute. The term “brown” simply meant drab, ordinary, and plain beyond just the subject’s color, as seen in the colloquial for the “Brown Bill” polearm, a farming tool often fielded by lowly infantry conscripts. This denotation was applied to the Brown Bess musket in the same way.

The oldest informal gun name on our list, the Brown Bess was a muzzleloading flintlock smoothbore musket that served as the British infantry standard for more than a century.

The Burp Gun

Dubbed the “Burp Gun” for the sound it made during extended fire, the PPSh-41 submachinegun was widely fielded by the Red Army in WW2. The burp gun fired 900 rounds a minute, nearly double the rate of the German MP40 it faced down in the streets of Stalingrad. The PPSh-41 was comparatively easy to produce, and a copy of the gun called the Type 50 was later adopted by Chinese and North Korean troops.

“Once we heard that sound—‘Burp! Burp!’—it was a frightening sound,” recalled British veteran Gerry Farmer, who served with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in the Korean War. “It meant the Chinese were there. I think the sound of the burp gun and what it represented was more frightening than the rounds that came out of the weapon.”

The Burp Gun, a nickname for the USSR’s go-to infantry submachine gun in WW2.

The Centennial Rifle

At the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, when America celebrated its 100th birthday, Winchester found the perfect stage to display their latest firearms and ammunition to the world. Their newest Winchester lever action rifle, a sized-up version of the Model 1873, was unveiled at the event. Though the official gun name was Model 1876, the company and its distributed marketed the firearm as the "Centennial Rifle," "Centennial Model," and "Centennial pattern," and the nickname stuck.

The Centennial Rifle, a famous gun nickname for the Winchester Model 1876.

The Coach Gun

The combat shotguns of yesteryear, the coach gun derives its slang gun name from its role guarding wagons and stagecoaches against the highwaymen who plagued the lonely roads of 19th century Europe and America. Coach guns were carried by lawmen, criminals, and soldiers alike to even the odds when things got gritty.

The coach gun, a famous gun nickname for a broad range of no-nonsense scatterguns.

The Derringer

One of the most famous gun names on our list, the success of Henry Deringer's pocket pistol led to a host of copies and clones. While the original Philadephia Deringer was spelled with a single 'r', like its creator's name, some manufacturers started using a second "r" in the spelling. This was likely an attempt to differentiate their products from the originals and avoid a lawsuit like the landmark trademark infringement Supreme Court case Henry Deringer won against San Francisco gunmaker Slotter & Co. and Plate in 1863. The term derringer became a ubiquitous nickname for any small, concealable handgun.

A cased pair of Henry Deringers. The 'derringer' term became tied to the numerous clones of the original model and remains a popular gun nickname today.

The Devil's Paintbrush

You don’t earn a gun nickname like “The Devil’s Paintbrush” without making a terrible impression. While Gatling guns had demonstrated the utility of high-volume fire on the battlefield, the Maxim design, the world’s first true recoil-based machine gun, perfected the strategy to a brutal degree.

With its cheaper cost of production and absence of a manual crank, the Maxim gun supplanted its Gatling gun forerunner and saw widespread adoption in Europe. The defensive advantage offered by the Maxim gun’s overwhelming firepower contributed to the trench warfare stalemates and high death tolls of WW1, and it’s easy to see why the “Devil’s Paintbrush” epithet caught on with the soldiers who faced this deadly efficient weapon.

On the list of coolest weapon names, The Devil's Paintbrush ranks near the top.

The Figure 8

Patented in 1856, the Savage & North black powder revolver is as distinct as it is rare. Its informal gun name stems from the figure 8 shape made by the cocking lever and trigger guard. Using the operator’s middle finger, the ring-style cocking lever is pulled after each successive shot to advance the six-shot cylinder, automatically cocking the hammer.

The Savage & North “Figure 8”, a gun nickname derived from the revolver’s unique trigger guard and cocking lever.

The Gat

Named after its inventor, Dr. Richard Gatling, "Gat" was a natural shorthand gun name for the multi-barrel, crank-operated powerhouse introduced during the American Civil War. The Gat nickname was used for the gun at least as early as 1885, when U.S. Army Major Arthur "Gat" Howard found fame with the media operating a Gatling gun during the 1885 North-West rebellion for the Canadian military.

Like many gun nicknames of its era, "The Gat" first originated from newspaper stories.

The Ghost Gun

The ghost gun nickname has been applied to everything from toy proton packs, ghost hunting flashlights, and hidden flak and artillery positions over the decades. In Canada, the slang has long been used in reference to any gun that's been lost, misplaced, or misreported to the Canadian Firearms Registry.

Over the last decade and a half, the ghost gun term has entered the American vernacular as a vague word for "untraceable" firearms, including unserialized guns and homemade firearms that aren't registered. Several states now consider 80% receivers to be ghost guns as well.

The frequency of ghost gun nickname usage by the American media rose along with the advancement of 3D printing technology. For instance, Charles Hauser, then Chief of the ATF's gun tracing center, dubbed privately made firearms "ghost guns" in an April 2013 interview with CNBC, stating, "Now, instead of having to have a factory to build a gun, I guess me and you can build it in our basement pretty easy. And we don't even have to be real good technical guys. It is a ghost gun."

The ghost gun, a spooky gun nickname intended to frighten the public.

The Goose Gun

A bolt action shotgun with a 36 inch barrel and a detachable magazine? Enter the famous "Goose gun." According to Marlin, their Model 55 was "the perfect choice for tough shots at wary waterfowl." Produced in 20, 16, 12, and 10 gauge variations throughout its lengthy production life, Marlin actively marketed the firearm with the goose gun nickname, and the hunting community continues to embrace the moniker to this day.

"High flying ducks and geese are the Goose guns specialty," Marlin boasted in the early advertising for their Model 55 bolt action shotgun, one of the most famous entries on our gun names list.

The Grapevine Carbine

The Civil War saw the development of numerous breach loading carbines, including the unique-looking Gwyn & Campbell. This .52 caliber gun was nicknamed for its long hammer and serpentine-shaped trigger guard, qualities especially evident in the scarcer Type I Cosmopolitan Arms Co model. The “grapevine” nickname was less commonly applied to the Gwyn & Campbell Type II carbine, which saw service with numerous Union Cavalry units.

The “Grapevine Carbine”, a memorable slang gun name for one of the Civil War’s most distinctive breechloaders.

The Grease Gun

Another memorable weapon nickname bestowed by everyday troops, the M3 “Grease Gun” earned its title due to a close physical resemblance to hand-powered grease dispensers, a common auto mechanic’s tool of the period. In an effort to mass-produce a cheaper and lighter alternative to the Thompson, inventor George Hyde developed a firearm that was stamped, riveted, and welded, taking on a crude, tube gun shape. The Grease Gun is an example of a gun nickname becoming more commonly known than its official designation.

A .45 caliber SMG optimized for speed and ease of production, the Grease Gun bore one of the most famous gun names of WW2.

The Gun that Won the West

Here’s a colloquial gun name almost everyone knows thanks to films like ‘Winchester ‘73’ and other popular Western movies, shows, and novels. The title “Gun that Won the West” didn’t officially emerge until early 20th-century advertising campaigns, a brainchild of Edwin Pugsley, a Winchester engineer who helped produce famous firearms like the Winchester Model 21 shotgun.

The sentiment behind the now-famous saying was grounded in the frontier era, as the Winchester 1873 rifle was a lightweight, reliable gun that was affordable to most settlers at a time when the Old West was filled with a danger for every treasure and opportunity.

The Gun that Won the West, a rifle that truly lived up to its famous nickname.

The Harmonica Gun

While Samuel Colt turned to the rotating cylinder to provide customers with multiple shots, some inventors instead explored the idea of a slide bar repeater, or "harmonica gun." This fascinating firearm family employed multiple chambers bored into a removable steel slide and saw a number of design variations from different 19th-century inventors, including Jonathan Browning, the father of the famous John Moses Browning. The gun's nickname was derived from the similarities between its thin rectangular slide bar and the harmonica instrument.

The Harmonica gun, a slang gun name based on the unique appearence of the firearm's detachable slide bar magazine.

Hitler's Buzzsaw

Another gun nickname based on a blistering rate of fire, the MG42 machine gun was an imposing weapon to say the least. Called the most feared German gun on the WW2 battlefield, Hitler’s Buzzsaw was an upgrade from the already devastating MG-34. The MG42 machine gun’s high cyclic rate (about 1,200 rounds per minute) gave it a distinct and intimidating sound, very alien to Allied troops trained around slower-firing weapons. At that speed, individual gunshots are replaced with a steady, disturbing roar, earning the MG42 a terrifying reputation.

Also nicknamed “Hitler’s Zipper”, the MG42 was dreaded by the Allied infantry who faced it during WW2.

The Humpback

Known as “The Humpback” due to its trademark squared receiver, the Browning Automatic 5 is a versatile workhorse scattergun for all types of fowling and target shooting. John Browning’s 1903 recoil-operated design was the first successful semi-automatic shotgun and continues to be fielded by the modern sportsman today. Though often referred to as the Auto-5 or A-5, with period advertisements stressing how the firearm provided “Five shots under your fingers,” the Humpback nickname is what stuck the most.

With its distinctive high rear end, the Humpback has one of the most recognizable profiles of any sporting arm and remains one of the most popular slang gun names.

The Kentucky Rifle

This classic gun nickname for the American Long Rifle was coined from a song about the 1815 Battle of New Orleans titled ‘Hunters of Kentucky.’ Pioneered by German and Swiss gunsmiths who immigrated to the Colonies, the American Long Rifle combined numerous features from the Germanic Jäger rifle and English hunting designs that allowed backwoodsmen to shoot accurately up to 200 yards when hunting in the western wilds of Colonial America. Famed frontiersmen like Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, and Michael Stoner relied on the rifle during their long hunts and during the eventual settlement of the Kentucky wilderness, where the rifle gained both its nickname and its legend.

"But Jackson he was wide awake, and wasn’t scared at trifles, for well he knew what aim we take with our Kentucky rifles.” – The Hunters of Kentucky.

The Lemon Squeezer

Widely dubbed “The Lemon Squeezer,” the Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless, or Smith & Wesson New Departure revolver, earned its nickname from the grip safety on its backstrap which required a firm squeeze to operate, much like everyone's favorite citrus juicing tool. This feature was touted by Smith & Wesson when the double action top-break revolver was introduced in 1888, advertised as making the gun “nearly impossible” for a child to fire.

During the era of the S&W New Departure revolver, the “lemon squeeze” moniker, a funny gun nickname that's still used today, was sometimes more broadly applied to any revolver with a similar grip safety feature.

The Lightning, Thunderer, and Rainmaker

Many early gun names for cartridge Colts originated with Benjamin Kittredge & Co. of Cincinnati. One of Colt’s biggest distributors, Benjamin Kittredge came up with at least nine Colt monikers such as “Peacemaker” (highlighted later in this article) and “Frontier Six Shooter” for Colt SAA variants chambered in .44-40. For Colt's series of Model 1877 double action revolvers, Kittredge devised the nickname “Lightning” for the .38 caliber, “Thunderer,” for the .41, and “Rainmaker” for the .32 variant. The .45 caliber Model 1878, Colt's first large frame double action revolver, was dubbed the "Omnipotent."

To make matters slightly confusing, in 1883 Colt released a firearm officially named the "Lighting," in this case a pump action rifle.

As cool gun names go, it doesn't get much better than the famous Colt Lightning revolver.

Ma Deuce

The M2 Heavy Machine Gun, a U.S. military mainstay since the 1930s, gained one of the most memorable service weapon nicknames around. “Ma Deuce” clearly plays on the M and 2 in the M2 designation, much like how the HU1 Helicopter was dubbed the “Huey.” It’s not hard to imagine the formal “Model” or “Mod” in Model 2 being shortened to “Ma,” a possible reference to the weapon’s other favored nickname, “The Mother of All Machine Guns.”

Deuce has long been a slang for “two” in English, from the nickname of a second child to the gaming terms used for the two side of a dice and the number two card in each suit in a 52-card deck. Combined together, and you have an affectionate handle for a gun that became a second mother to the troops who relied on Browning’s .50 caliber behemoth to protect themselves and their company.

Ma Deuce, a gun name that has become synonymous with the famous M2.

The Mattel Gun

This Vietnam-era gun name was a pejorative some American troops gave to the new M16 rifles. The M16 was a drastic departure from every service rifle that had proceeded it, using composite materials and aerospace-grade aluminum to reduce the weight of the gun. To the average infantryman, it looked and felt more like a toy than the M14 and M1 Garand. This perception was compounded by the fact that Mattel had assisted Armalite in manufacturing plastic handgrips for the M16's AR-15 predecessor.

The Mattel Gun nickname for the M16 endured through the Vietnam War and beyond.

The Mississippi Rifle

The Model 1841 “Mississippi” rifle earned both its reputation and its famous gun nickname during the Mexican-American War with the 155th Infantry Regiment, Mississippi's oldest National Guard unit. The regiment became the first unit to be officially issued rifles (the M1841) rather than traditional smoothbore muskets. Under the command of Colonel Jefferson Davis the "Regiment of Mounted Rifles" distinguished themselves during the Battle of Buena Vista and the Battle of Monterrey, and the association with their state stuck with the rifle.

A gun name earned through the deeds of the first unit that bore them, the Mississippi rifle gained fame with the 155th Infantry Regimen of Mississippi.

The Monkey Tail Carbine

Ordnance officers might get to choose official service weapon names, but the everyday infantrymen are always going to come up with a clever title that sticks. The single-shot capping breechloading rifles and carbines manufactured by Westley Richards were dubbed the “Monkey Tail” by the Boers in South Africa, a gun nickname that came from the lift up lever that was hinged to the rear of the barrel used to open and close the breech, thought to resemble a simian’s tail. A similar carbine design was offered in America by A.H. Waters of Millbury, Massachusetts, as pictured below.

A unique gun design. Both the Westley Richards single-shot and the U.S. Joslyn Model 1855 carbine were nicknamed “Monkey Tail” based on the shape of their loading levers.

The Mouse Gun

The 'Mouse Gun' name typically refers to petite pocket pistols chambered in light calibers like .22 LR, .25 ACP, and .32 ACP. Though Colt FN/Browning offered .25 ACP pocket pistols in the early 20th century, the mouse gun nickname came into popular usage decades later and referred to more modern pistols like the Beretta’s Bobcat 21A, LCP II Lite Rack, and the Taurus 22 Poly. Colonel Jeff Cooper, a US Marine, famed firearms instructor, author, and columnist for 'Guns & Ammo' magazine was thought to have coined the nicknamed, and the term continues to endure today.

Pistols like the Beretta Model 421 earned the mouse gun nickname for their small size and diminutive calibers.

Old Reliable

Many guns have used the "Old Reliable" nickname, including classic Parker shotguns, but the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Co. trademarked the name and added it to some barrel markings in April 1876, after the company moved its factory to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

While previous Sharps models had earned numerous nicknames, famously dubbed "Big Fifty" for their power and called "Lead Belly" by the Texas Rangers, the name Old Reliable became the most famous with veteran hunters and frontiersmen. The moniker truly stuck with the Model 1874, the first purpose-built Sharps to house a new breed of powerful metallic cartridges.

Old Reliable started as a colloquial gun nickname for the Sharps, and was later officially trademarked.

Old Slabside

The designation “Model of 1911 U.S. Army Caliber 45” is quite a mouthful, and it didn’t take long for soldiers to offer a laundry list of unofficial gun names for Browning’s new service pistol. “Old Bigmouth,” The Army Automatic,” “The Yankee Fist,” “Colt .45” or simply “Forty-Five” are some common favorites, but perhaps the most prominent is “Old Slabside.” The name alludes to the gun’s slab-type grip panels, one of the many distinguishing features the M1911 had over its military-issued predecessors like the Colt M1892 revolver.

The M1911, the longest-serving sidearm in American military history, had no shortage of cool gun nicknames.

The Peacemaker

The six shooter. “The Great Equalizer.” “Judge Colt and his Jury of Six.” A plethora of cool nicknames were inevitable for the iconic Colt Single Action Army revolver. As mentioned earlier, Cincinnati-based firearms dealer Kittredge & Co. was one of Colt's largest distributors. In 1874, Kittredge began advertising the Colt Single Action Army to the civilian market as “The Peacemaker.”

Kittredge's slang gun name proved far more appealing than official designations for Colt's sixshooter, like “New Model Army Metallic Cartridge Revolving Pistol,” “45-caliber centerfire Colt Single Action Army,” “M1873,” or “The Model P.” The Peacemaker nickname played to the sentiment that an armed society was a polite society and the mere presence of the Colt revolver would dissuade any troublemakers from picking a fight they might not survive.

“God made man but Colonel Colt made them equal.” The Peacemaker certainly ranks among the most catchy gun names and was favored by Old West gunfighters, lawmen, soldiers, and outlaws.

The Pepperbox Pistol

Originally marketed as a pocket pistol, the Pepperbox revolver earned its unique gun name due to the visual similarity of the gun's multi-shot barrel groups with pepper-box and pepper grinder kitchen tools used for culinary spices. Also called the "pepper pot", these repeating firearms used a separate barrel for each shot and many models had to be rotated by hand. The Allen and Thurber pepperbox pistols of the 1830s and 1840s were also nicknamed "The gun that won the East" due to their popularity with New England's civilian market.

The Pepper Box pistol, one of the most famous gun names of the 19th century.

The Pig

As far as service weapon nicknames go, “The Pig” covers a lot of ground. We’re talking 23 pounds of belt-fed heavy metal that can eat a ton of ammo and chew through anything down range. The M60 often found itself in the mud and muck during combat, and its slow cyclic rate made this beast of a machine gun sound akin to a grunting boar. The Pig humped, sailed, and soared through Vietnam, Operation Just Cause, and the Persian Gulf War and continues to see service in specialized roles today.

The Potato Digger

First came its rather bland official title, “M1895 Colt-Browning Machine gun.” Inventor John Browning’s Model 1895 quickly earned a more memorable slang gun name due to the gas port near the muzzle of the barrel that powered a spring-loaded lever arm to cycle the action, much like a lever-action rifle. This exposed operating arm, which projects down and away from the gun with significant force during the firing cycle, was known to dig holes in the ground if the gun’s tripod was resting on soft soil and sank low enough into the earth, and thus the Potato Digger connotation was born.

When low enough to the ground, the operating lever on the M1895 Colt-Browning Machine gun would send sprays of dirt into the air with every shot, like a mechanical potato digger, hence the weapon’s unique nickname.

The Registered Magnum

Introduced in 1935, Smith & Wesson's latest handgun was officially advertised as the ".357 S&W Magnum". Some shooters and gun writers nicknamed the gun "Registered Magnum" due to the individual registration number stamped inside each revolver and the registration card that was sent to customers after an order was placed. This registration number is separate and unrelated to the gun’s serial number.

Once received, the registration card could be optionally filled out by the owner and mailed back to Smith & Wesson in order to obtain a registration certificate. Each registration certificate included company president Douglas Wesson's personal signature and was a guarantee of quality from the manufacturer. These certificates were carefully shipped in a mailing tube and intended for framing. Today, the gun is universally known by its nickname, the Registered Magnum.

One of the most catchy gun names on our list, the Registered Magnum is a memorable moniker for the Smith & Wesson's mighty .357.

The Rifleman's Rifle

Since as early as 1953, the year Winchester introduced both the .308 Winchester cartridge and the Model 70 Featherlight, Winchester and its vendors have advertised the Winchester Model 70 as "The Rifleman's Rifle." The famous nickname has since become synonymous with this revered bolt action mainstay. In 2009, author Roger C. Rule further popularized this catchy gun name by naming his book on the model "The Rifleman's Rifle."

The Model 70 lived up to its nickname, becoming a gold standard for hunters and sportsmen after its introduction in 1936, then making a strong impression with the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War. The most noted sniper of the conflict, Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, earned more than 93 confirmed kills, most while wielding the Winchester Model 70 rifle in .30-06.  

Two pre-64 examples of the "rifleman's rifle," the storied gun nickname bestowed on the iconic Winchester Model 70.

The Right Arm of the Free World

Developed by Dieudonne Saive after WW2, the Fusil Automatique Leger (known by the famous FAL acronym) has been fielded by more than 90 countries around the globe. Formerly serving as NATO’s official battle rifle, the FN FAL was the Western counter to the Kalashnikov rifle favored by communist forces the NATO allies faced off against in countless conflicts throughout the Cold War. The weapon earned two famous gun nicknames, the “Right Arm of the Free World” and "AK of the West" due to the firearm's role in resisting the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

The Right Arm of the Free World, another candidate on any cool gun names list and an appropriate sobriquet for NATO’s most prolific rifle during the Cold War.

The Snake Gun

In the pantheon of cool gun names, it doesn't get much more memorable than the Snake gun family of Colt revolvers. Colt's seven deadly serpents include the Python, Diamondback, Cobra, Anaconda, King Cobra, Boa, and Viper, each named after a fearsome ophidian. The snake gun marketing term worked. Like the aforementioned Goose gun, Colt's snake gun advertising campaign is another example of a gun manufacturer's catchy nickname taking hold with the collecting public.

The Colt Python, perhaps the most famous model to bear the snake gun nickname.

The Snub Nose Revolver

This famous gun nickname generally refers to any revolver with a three-inch or shorter barrel length. Also called the snubby, belly gun, and bulldog, the idea of a snub nose revolver has been around since Samuel Colt first realized the concept of accurately syncing a rotating cylinder to a fixed barrel. This made them easier to conceal and faster to draw, both ideal characteristics for lawmen, gamblers, thieves, and anyone interested in close-quarters self-defense.

A pair of Colt Detective Specials, a revolver model often associated with the snub nose gun name.

The Staple Gun

The Heckler & Koch P7 series is another name that doesn't really roll off the tongue. Enter the "Staple Gun” moniker, or "Combat Staple Gun," a nickname that originates from the squeeze-cocking lever on the P7 pistol grip that somewhat resembles older staple gun triggers.

The P7’s striker and sear only engage when the cocking lever on the front strap is depressed. Pull the lever and the striker is drawn back. Release the lever and the striker loses tension and returns to the resting position. This gives safety comparable to a double action only bobbed hammer semi-auto, where the pistol will not fire without positive user action, while still allowing a clean and relatively light single action style trigger pull as would be seen on a normal striker-fired pistol.

Not all slang gun names are complex or rich in meaning. The Staple Gun’s pistol grip is designed with a finger-grooved lever that acts as a squeeze-cocking mechanism.

The Tactical Tuna

Perhaps the most modern entry on our list, the "Tactical Tuna" is an example of the internet meming a catchy gun nickname into existence, or at least greatly aiding in its popularization. The tactical tuna name is most prominently applied to the FN FS2000 bullpup carbine, which can be found in a tactical version with a flat-top rail and iron sights. Ironically, the shape of the standard version and its fin-like outer shell earned the gun its iconic nickname, and the tactical tuna has since come to apply to a range of similar-looking bullpup rifles.

The Tactical Tuna, a cool gun name for the FN FS2000 bullpup carbine popularized by the internet.

The Tommy Gun

“The Chicago Typewriter.” “The Street Sweeper.” “The rat-tat-tat.” The Thompson submachine gun gained dozens of colorful labels as it earned its reputation in the Melting Pot of South Side Chicago, toted by gangsters, bandits, and lawmen alike. Tommy Gun, the weapon's most famous name, is a blue-collar shorthand for Thompson. Tommy was also a well-known term for British soldiers, and this connection might have proliferated the gun's nickname after the British airborne adopted the Thompson Model M1A1 variant in the early years of WW2.

Thanks to Hollywood and popular culture, the name Tommy Gun has become far more known than the firearm’s official designation.

The Trapdoor

After the Civil War, the War Department wanted a standard-issue breechloading rifle that would chamber a self-primed, metallic cartridge. Erskine S. Allin of Springfield Armory proposed taking thousands of existing Civil War muzzleloaders and converting them by adding a hinged breechblock to the top of the receiver. This design resembled both the look and motion of a trap door panel when the user opened the rifle to load a new cartridge, giving the gun its now legendary name.

Trapdoor is the nickname for a series of Springfield breechloading cartridge rifles that covers the Model 1865 through the Model 1890.

The Trench Sweeper

Another easy-to-understand gun nickname, in this case derived from the Winchester Model 1897 shotgun’s function in combat. The Model 1897’s shorter barrel made the weapon more maneuverable in the narrow trenches of WW1. Its lack of trigger disconnector allowed this combat shotgun to be slam fired as well, the act of holding the trigger while working the slide, repeatedly firing, ejecting a spent shell, and chambering a new shell.

A trained soldier could empty a trench gun of its six shells with devastating effect in just over two seconds. These traits made the Winchester Model 1897 ideal for the ferocious close-in fighting common to the Great War, earning the gun its Trench Sweeper nickname.

The Trench Sweeper, one of the coolest weapon names around, was originally coined by Gen. Thompson for his Tommy gun. The Tommy never saw service in WW1, so the name organically moved to the Winchester Model 1897 shotgun instead.

The Widowmaker

On our slang gun names list, few monikers are darker than “The Widowmaker.” The Winchester Model 1911 shotgun earned its famous nickname from accidents that could occur when shooters braced the butt of the weapon against the ground and pulled the barrel back to cock the shotgun or free a stuck shell. Needless to say, holding one's hands over the muzzle or looking down the barrel of a cocked 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun that was prone to sudden discharge led to more than a few lost fingers and husbands.

In the history of gun slang, few nicknames are as infamous as "The Widowmaker."

The Wonder Nine

The Wonder Nine is an informal gun name that applies to a broad series of semiautomatic 9 mm pistols that hit the market in the 70s and 80s. Successors to the legendary Browning Hi Power, these guns share a number of features like DA/SA actions and double stack mags that could carry 12 or more rounds, with models like the S&W 59, the Beretta 92, and the CZ-75 being some of the earliest popular examples.

For advocates of these firearms, the Wonder Nine nickname referenced the ammunition, high capacity, and combination of features that made these pistols intuitive and easy to carry, though detractors used the nickname as a pejorative, including magazine writers who lamented the switch to these newfangled firearms over the revolvers that once dominated the market and more traditional pistol designs like the .45 ACP 1911.

An early example of a “Wonder Nine”, a rare prototype Colt SSP DA semi-automatic 9mm pistol.

The Woodpecker

The Type 92, the go-to heavy machine gun for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy during WW2, earned the memorable gun name “Woodpecker” for the stuttering noise it made. Due in part to its use of strip-fed ammo rather than belt-fed ammo, the Type 92 spit 7.7mm ammunition at a comparatively modest rate of 400 to 450 rounds per minute, a slow operation that contributed to the gun's distinct sound and nickname.

A derivative of the classic Hotchkiss machine gun designed by Kijiru Nambu, the Type 92 heavy machine gun was nicknamed the "Woodpecker" by Allied soldiers for its distinctive sound when being fired.

The Yellowboy

Some slang gun names are as simple as they sound. Like its Henry rifle predecessor, the Winchester Model 1866 had a frame composed of gunmetal, a strong type of bronze alloy made with copper, tin, zinc, and sometimes a small amount of lead. Also known as “red brass,” gunmetal was rust-resistant and easy to machine, and its unique muted yellow tint gave Winchester’s first lever action rifle its distinct look and Yellowboy nickname.

The Yellow Boy, one of the most memorable and catchy gun names from the Old West era.

The Zouave Rifle

Everyone loves a good mystery, and the exact origin of the final slang gun name on our list continues to be debated. Remington produced 12,501 "Model 1863 Contract Rifles of Harper's Ferry Pattern" for the Union between 1862 and 1865, but the guns saw little, if any, service during the Civil War and went into storage at Watervliet Arsenal. Nearly a century later, military surplus dealer Francis Bannerman & Company prepared to sell the rifles, and the name "Zouave" made sense from a marketing perspective.

The word Zouave originated from the Zwawa, an Algerian tribal confederation of the Baranis Berbers. The Berbers' flashy dress and fighting style was adopted by the French, who subsequently introduced it to the Western World during the Crimean War. A few years before the Civil War, the Zouave military style swept America and resulted in over 100 volunteer Zouave regiments.

The Zouave term remained in popular use for decades in America and also was used in reference to acrobatic military drills and fancy rifle displays. Those thousands of Remington Civil War rifles in storage had retained their high condition and featured brass mountings vaguely similar to the Belgian rifles used by the Algerian French Zouaves, so the gun nickname caught on in advertising both the original rifles and the popular reproductions that would follow.

The Zouave rifle, a cool gun name inspired by the colorful uniforms and acrobatic fighting style of French Zouave soldiers and the American regiments patterned after them.

Cool Gun Nicknames

Did we include your favorite gun nickname? Subscribe to the weekly Rock Island Auction newsletter to receive new gun blogs and gun videos each week on the firearms mentioned above, as well as some of those that didn’t make our list such as the Mare's Leg, the Hawken "Mountain Gun," the MAC-10 "Miami chopper," and the Volcanic pistol, an official designation just as memorable as some of the cool gun nicknames mentioned above.

The German 15 cm Nebelwerfer (translation "smoke thrower") 41 multiple rocket launcher earned the nicknames "Screaming Mimi" and "Moaning Minnie" due to the characteristic high pitched screech made by incoming rockets.