Note that this definition is only in the rules for the NFA, and not the GCA. It is designed to interact with the AOW definition. For example even though this definition excludes such things as the .410 T/C Contender pistol from the pistol definition, it is also not an AOW as it has a rifled bore. And it is also a handgun under the GCA. The NFA statute does not define “pistol” or “revolver”. I think that excluding handguns designed to be fired when held in two hands is not necessarily justifiable. But it allowed them to declare that an HK SP-89 pistol with a K grip is an AOW. As is an M-11/9 or TEC-9 with a foregrip. The Auto Ordnance 1927-A3 pistol is apparently exempted, for historical authenticity.
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26 USC sec. 5845(g) “Antique firearm.-The term ‘antique firearm’ means any firearm not designed or redesigned for using rim fire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898 (including any matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system or replicas thereof, whether actually manufactured before or after the year 1898) and also any firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898, for which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the United States and is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.”
