On Sun, 22 Sep 2013 21:57:02 +0200, nestork
wrote:

Let's say Sam walks into a gun shop with the intent of buying a hand gun
that held the cartridges in a magazine which slid into the handle of the
gun.

Sam asks the nice man at the counter to show him what he has in the way
of _________s. (fill in the blank)

What would Sam ask to see if he wanted to make it clear that he was not
interested in revolvers, but only handguns that held the cartridges in a
magazine which fit inside the handle of the gun.

If there is no actual word for that kind of a hand gun, a statement
saying that there is no such dedicated word would completely answer my
question as well.

Sam would ask for a double-action "semi-automatic pistol".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-automatic_pistol