Galkatas is a common name for the widespread illegal homemade

hand gun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and braced aga ...

type in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. There is not any unique or identical shape for this but it is known to fire 9mm or .38 ammunition and even 7.62×39mm Soviet M1943 rounds. The galkatas is famous among the local underground groups. It is the weapon responsible for most of the homicides committed in Sri Lanka. The weapon is made by local blacksmiths, and due to this, it has many mechanical defects.

References

* * Crime in Sri Lanka Homemade firearms Insurgency weapons Weapons of Sri Lanka {{pistol-stub