Cool Guns/Handguns

Pistole Parabellum 1908
"In the category of interesting trivia, "Parabellum" derives from the Roman military textbook titled; "Epitoma Rei Militaris," by Vegetius. (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus) The relevant quote is usually written as Si vis pacem, para bellum, though sometimes as Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.; and basically translates as If you wish for Peace; prepare for War."

Better known as the Luger, and used by the Germans in both World Wars, this 7.65mm or 9mm (both originally designed for the Luger; 9mm Parabellum is essentially a 7.65mm cartridge with the bottleneck removed and a larger bullet seated) pistol has a distinctive grip and just looks evil. If Those Wacky Nazis appear, they're probably carrying this. A large number were collected by Allied soldiers as trophies in the Second World War with a decent number even assembled after the war for sale as souvenirs to occupying troops (these post-war productions are generally of low quality), and this means they are still common today. May or may not be particularly unreliable; American ammunition companies after the war downloaded 9mm ammo to keep GI's from blowing up their war trophies; this prevented the Luger's toggle-lock mechanism from cycling correctly. The most distinctive variants are the "Navy" model with a six-inch barrel and two-position rear sight, and the "Artillery" model, with an 8-inch barrel, 8-position rear sight, and optional stock and 32-round "Snail drum" magazine (which proved far more prone to jamming than standard magazines). A .45 ACP version (designed for the U.S. Army pistol tests that eventually led to the M1911) is among the rarest of Rare Guns; only two were created, with one being destroyed during the test - and the second one was sold to an anonymous collector in 2010 for $494,000.

If kept in proper condition and fed with ammo of the best quality available, it's the most accurate historic handgun in the world - which is not as astounding when you see it's built more like an Olympic target pistol than a combat one. There are modern shooters who can achieve better results from this gun than most untrained people can from a rifle, including shot groups a bit larger than 1-inch at short range to an 8-inch bullseye shot from beyond 120 meters.

The P08's intricate machinework proved to be expensive, it needed perfect ammo and absolute cleanliness to fire, while the complicated toggle-lock was prone to corrosion, especially at sea; the weapon was gradually phased out in favour of the simpler, less costly Walther P38, with some limited production of the Luger continuing into 1945.

"Otto: "Not zo fast -- zis is a Luger!" Professor Fenton: "That means you're Hun! You're both Huns!""
 * Band of Brothers. Cpl. Hoobler repeatedly expresses his desire to get hold of one, at one stage running out under fire to search a dead German soldier. When he finally does get hold of a Luger, it accidentally discharges and kills him.
 * In the first Hellboy movie, Karl Ruprecht Kroenen uses one with uncanny accuracy against attacking Allied soldiers.
 * In The Land That Time Forgot, British naval officer Bradley rather memorably uses a long-barreled artillery model Luger to kill an Allosaurus (!).
 * The basis for the Lawgiver pistol in the Judge Dredd comics.
 * From the play Bullshot Crummond.


 * Wielded by farmer Bean in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
 * Even Illinois Nazis use it.
 * Fritz Stanford in Black Lagoon's Nazi arc uses a custom one of these called the Eisenreich Luger Special, chambered for .454 Casull (utterly impractical in Real Life since the .454 is twice the length of a 9mm Parabellum, leading to a huge grip which would fit only a bear's paw) and designed to be a Hand Cannon. He never gets to use it because he shoots off at the mouth way too much, giving Revy all the time in the world to reload her Beretta (mentioned elsewhere on this page) and put him down like a mad dog.
 * One of the alien mooks in Bad Taste use one.
 * Talia uses one in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Walther P38
A 9mm pistol conceived for use by the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II as a replacement for the costly Luger P08, it was the first locked-breech pistol to use a double action trigger (following in the footsteps of Walther's very successful PP and PPK blowback pistols). The shooter could load a round into the chamber, use the de-cocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded with the hammer down. A pull of the trigger, with the hammer down, fired the first shot and the operation of the pistol ejected the fired round and reloaded a fresh round into the chamber, all features found in many modern day handguns. Early examples were of very high quality but as the war drew on this suffered in regards to the external finish. Otherwise, the weapon was sturdy and resilient to sand and dust; like the Luger it was designed for easy cleaning and disassembly on the battlefield so there aren't any screws aside from the one on the grip making the overall assembly quite complex. Later versions such as the alloy-framed P1 were often ridiculed for poor quality control, one quip was that the weapon was good for "eight warning shots and one aimed throw." The main flaw of the P38 design is the heavy (about 15 pounds) and long double-action trigger pull, which makes a well-aimed first shot rather more difficult than with a Luger.
 * Probably best known in fiction as the guns used in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; the gun was so popular it actually received it's own fan mail, up to 400 letters a week at the show's height many of which were simply addressed to "the gun." A variety of custom versions with additional parts were used, including...
 * Megatron. He was a Man From UNCLE Walther P38 with barrel extension, stock and scope, which became his Fusion Cannon.
 * Though not as well known as the Luger, it still often turns up in many WWII settings, and because the two are similar looking the casual observer may sometimes mistake one for the other.
 * Weapon of Choice for the titular character of Lupin III.
 * Hans Landa carries one in Inglourious Basterds.
 * In the "jamming pistol" scene in Schindler's List, the SS are carrying P38s.
 * Ernie in Return of the Living Dead uses a pearl-handled Walther P38 throughout the film.
 * Cate Archer uses a silenced version in the first No One Lives Forever.

Walther PP and PPK
One of the first successful double-action semi-automatics, the original PP pistol was released in 1929, the weapon proving popular with both civilians and police for its reliability and ease of concealment. The PPK (Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell) was released in 1931 as a pistol for use by plainclothes and undercover police; the PPK is shorter than the PP and has a reduced magazine capacity. Due to the need for absolute concealability, the small size forced the designers to use mostly very small calibers like .22LR or 32.ACP, less suited to the rigors of combat. Both weapons were adopted by Nazi Germany as service pistols, issued to the German military and police, the Luftwaffe, and Nazi Party officials; most notably, it was the weapon Adolf Hitler used to commit suicide in 1945.

The original PPK has been illegal for importation into the United States since 1968; American models are either the PPK/S (a PPK slide on a PP frame), or domestically assembled by Smith & Wesson. The PP/PPK design was also heavily copied in the Soviet Makarov pistol (with nearly every Warsaw Pact nation fielding a similar PP clone chambered in 9x18mm), first adopted in the 1950s and replaced only recently.


 * The most famous user is, of course, James Bond, who replaces his Beretta (either an M1934 or 416, depending upon the media) with a PPK chambered in 7.65mm (.32 ACP) in Dr. No. He uses this until replacing it with a Walther P99 in Tomorrow Never Dies; oddly, in the most recent movie, Quantum of Solace, Bond has returned to his old (new?) PPK.
 * Umi Martin is assigned one in version one of Survival of the Fittest.
 * The Equalizer uses a stainless steel PPK/S; as he's a former spy played by a British actor this is likely a James Bond Shout-Out.
 * Doctor Strange: The Oath -- a weapon identified as Hitler's suicide weapon (loaded with silver bullets) critically injures Doc. After being patched up, he uses it himself to kill a monster that his limitless magical powers couldn't faze.
 * In Noir, the Soldats High Priestesses use gold plated PPKs.
 * Fired Guns Akimbo by an old lady on a scooter in Hot Fuzz.
 * Shoshanna uses one in Inglourious Basterds.
 * In Zombieland, Wichita points one at Tallahassee, after he snatches a gun off her sister.
 * Y: The Last Man. Agent 355 gives a PPK to Yorick to defend himself with.
 * Dee Dee McCall in the earlier seasons of the TV cop series Hunter.
 * Shoot Em Up. In the opening shoot-out Clive Owen has a PPK jam on him; he throws it away, declaring the pistol a "piece of shit." Might be a Take That as Clive was briefly considered for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale.
 * The anime film The Sky Crawlers one is carried by Kusanagi everywhere she goes as a sign of her mental instability.

Heckler & Koch USP
The USP is a German handgun, adopted by the German army as P8 and the German police as P10 (Compact version). The USP is a derivative of the even larger Mark 23, the SOCOM variant of which was adopted by the US special forces in the '90s. It was eventually superseded by the lighter, smaller and more user friendly USP Tactical, though is in service with several militaries and police forces around the world.
 * The USP Tactical is the starting weapon of Counter-Terrorist players in Counter-Strike.
 * In the Tomb Raider Movie, Lara Croft's pistol of choice is the Match variant of the USP. It's supposed to be sporting grade accurate.
 * The pistol Gordon Freeman uses in Half-Life 2 is a USP Match.
 * Silas in The Da Vinci Code. In the book it was a .45, but in the movie it is the 9mm version. Probably because 9mm blanks are cheaper than .45 ones.
 * Tabletop Game Spycraft 's designers figured this weapon should be the most 'expensive' (per its requisitioning system) among auto handguns, on par with the .44s. Then again, the USP series are horribly overpriced in real life, too.
 * Jack Bauer uses the Compact variant with stainless slide.
 * Neil McCauley carries a USP early on in Heat but switches to a SIG Sauer P220 towards the end of the film.
 * The Obeya FBW pistol in All Points Bulletin is clearly based on the USP.
 * The AT-14 pistol in F.E.A.R. is an USP with a different name.
 * Misato carries a USP as her sidearm in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * A common pistol in the Modern Warfare series.
 * The USP shows up in both normal and tactical variants in 7.62mm High Calibre. The difference being that the tactical version is threaded to accept a suppressor. It's a perfectly good pistol for mid and late game fighting, thanks to the relatively large magazine and good accuracy.
 * In the tanker chapter of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Snake acquires one from Olga Gurlukovich and uses it until he is captured late into the plant chapter and even then, may still have it, as even when he is captured, he is still carrying a pistol in his hip holster. Given the fact Olga serves with a Russian force that uses largely Russian specific weapons, most of which are specifically customized, this stands out as a unusual weapon, a fact that is commented on.
 * This is one of the guns The Joker is seen wielding in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Beretta 92
A semi-automatic pistol chambered in 9mm with a 15-round magazine, it is easily identified by its iconic enlarged ejection port (the barrel is actually visible for a large part of the gun). The 92 is a descendant of the single stack Beretta M1951, and can be considered a modern-day variant of the Walther P38, as it uses the P38's locking block as opposed to a Browning-style tilting barrel; this allows for a lighter slide (or a lighter half of a slide, in Beretta's case), and the barrel is restricted to back-and-forth motion, helping accuracy. It has been continually updated for a while, its latest model being the 92FS; there is also a licensed Brazilian clone known as Taurus PT92 which shows up in fiction rather often; the latter is a clone of the first model of the 92, and features a 1911-style frame safety as opposed to a slide-mounted decocker safety. This is a gun with multiple claims to fame: In this capacity, the M9 is looked upon poorly by some military users due to a perceived lack of stopping power, mostly by critics used to the more powerful .45 ACP load from the M1911. It has also had persistent issues with faulty magazines (as opposed to genuine Beretta ones; the issue seems to have been a government mandated "sand-resistant" coating that actually attracted more sand), and a situation where the slide pops off the weapon during action and ends up in the face of the user. Though these issues have been dealt with, one branch or another of the US military tries to replace it with a .45 ACP pistol every other year or so, which eventually concludes with a cancelled project and a new big Beretta order.
 * 1) It's John Woo's favorite gun (he claims all others are ugly), and is seen frequently in his films.
 * 2) In said films, it is frequently seen Guns Akimbo, with a number of homages thereby (reviewed further down).
 * 3) It's also known as the M9, the standard service pistol for Yanks With Tanks as of 1990.


 * The weapon of choice of Revy, of the anime Black Lagoon. Her version, the Sword Cutlass, has an extended barrel and slide, stainless finish and is further pimped-out with ivory grips with skull-and-crossbones medallions.
 * A main weapon in most Cop Shows.
 * Supposedly what Doom I/II's pistol is based off of.
 * Mack Bolan (The Executioner) used a silenced Beretta Brigadier, an early civilian model. He later updates to the 93R.
 * Metal Gear has this as Snake's Weapon of Choice in the MSX games, and in Metal Gear Solid 2 he gets one modified to fire tranquilizer rounds.
 * Any work that depicts the modern US Military accurately will feature this weapon. Ones that do include:
 * Stargate Command and the Atlantis Expedition.
 * Battle: Los Angeles, starring The USMC and Aaron Eckhart.
 * When Chow Yun-Fat uses a gun (or two) in a John Woo movie, chances are it will be this gun. Examples include Mark Gor from A Better Tomorrow, Ah Jong from The Killer, and Tequila Yuen from Hard Boiled (these are actually Taurus weapons) and Stranglehold. John Woo's omnipresent use of the 92 in the Dual-Wielding role may have been responsible for other works doing the same, such as:
 * The player, in Counter-Strike.
 * Neo, in The Matrix (his first pair of Throw-Away Guns in the lobby shootout).
 * Max Payne also favors these as his pistol of choice. He's quite fond of wielding two at a time.
 * John McClane in Die Hard. He upgrades to the SigSauer P229 in the fourth movie, though.
 * Available in the Jagged Alliance series. It's the second best handgun in the first game, and a good benchmark handgun in the second.
 * Martin Riggs used one in the Lethal Weapon series, upgraded with a laser pointer in the fourth film. Its depiction in that film is credited for further popularizing the firearm.
 * In the final movie of the series, Jet Li's character disassembles Riggs' Beretta...while Riggs is holding it and trying to shoot him.
 * Kane used one of these to kill Seth in the original Command & Conquer
 * Used by Tony Montana in Scarface.
 * Actually an M951, the precursor to the 92.
 * The Beretta is the S.T.A.R.S. team's sidearm of choice. The Samurai Edge, developed by a local gunsmith and used by Rebecca, Jill, and in the Director's Cut, is a heavily modified 92F.
 * Preston in Equilibrium uses two Beretta 92FS pistols modified with drop-in auto sears and lengthened barrels and frames. The non-firing props also had a frame-mounted M16-style fire selector. Contrary to popular belief, he did not use 93Rs; the movie guns had slide-mounted safeties, while the 93R safety is frame-mounted. Similar converted 92s were used in Underworld and Judge Dredd.
 * Hunter (TV series). In seasons 5 through 7, Rick Hunter used a Beretta 92F/FS.
 * Both the Beretta and Taurus varieties are used in The Crow. Notably, the bad guys and Eric carry Tauruses, and the cops carry Berettas.
 * Used by Conrad Marburg in Alpha Protocol. You can get his pistol too, but it's Guide Dang It hard.
 * Reinhard in Blade II carries one with a huge choppa and some smaller bits bolted on.
 * Used by Homura Akemi in Puella Magi Madoka Magica to.
 * The 92FS version shows up in 7.62 High Calibre. It's a decent, all-around handgun, but unlike the superior weapons (like the USP) it has magazines very easily available and cheap.
 * The Thompson Sisters' weapon forms in Soul Eater are a pair of 92FS Inox pistols.

Colt M1911
A century-old weapon, the M1911 is a single-action semi-automatic chambered in .45 ACP; it is iconic in gun culture and widely seen as one of the best handguns ever designed. Invented by legendary firearms designer John Browning and first manufactured by Colt, it has since been copied by nearly every gun manufacturer worth its salt. Due to its age, any firearms manufacturer can make an exact copy of the M1911, without permission from or royalty payments to Colt. And they do. Not to mention various "improvements", a few of which even offer legitimate advantages (but most don't). It was the United States Army service pistol from World War I until The Eighties, when it was replaced by the M9. Some special operations units still use M1911s, and it is a common starting point for custom pistols. Dozens of variants exist.
 * This weapon is shown in most WWII movies and videogames, since it was the standard-issue US sidearm at the time. As a historical footnote, M1911s manufactured under license in Norway from 1916 onwards continued to be produced for the German occupation forces during WWII, being designated Pistole 657(n). In other words, even the Nazis used this to a certain extent.
 * In Letters from Iwo Jima, the Japanese general commanding the defense of the island carries a chromed M1911, leading his soldiers to believe that he took it from a dead American. Turns out he received it as a going-away gift from a group of American officers before the war began.
 * In the 2004 remake of the comic book The Punisher, Frank Castle is seen dual wielding Colt Customs made by his father.
 * This is something of a trademark weapon for Frank in the comic book series as well.
 * Able Team series by Dick Stivers. Not having faith in 9mm, Carl Lyons used a Colt M1911 extensively customised to give it the same qualities as the Beretta 93Rs wielded by his partners.
 * The Shadow wielded a pair of these.
 * EVA gives a customized M1911 to Big Boss (then Naked Snake) at the outset of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. He then falls in love with it (if you contact Sigint, he talks about fifteen different modifications made to the weapon), as seen here (partially; this is a joke version because the proper scene doesn't seem to be on YouTube). The custom 1911 was actually modeled from an airsoft gun.
 * Old Snake uses an updated M1911 copy, the Springfield Operator, in Metal Gear Solid 4. The PMCs in the game also use an M1911 clone, the Sig Sauer GSR. It is also possible to enter a code and receive the original MGS3 M1911.
 * Nadie in El Cazador de la Bruja
 * Honor Harrington in the Honorverse series of books by David Weber uses a 1911 variant. The books take place 2,000 years in the future, and the standard firearms are pocket-sized rapid-fire mass drivers (called Pulsers) that can turn unarmored targets into hamburger meat . She was introduced to the old-fashioned weapon by her uncle, who was an active member of the Society of Creative Anachronisms. The weapon, and her familiarity with it, has come in very handy from time to time, though she normally uses modern weaponry, including a Pulser concealed in
 * Devil May Cry's Ebony and Ivory, and their earlier equivalents Luce and Ombra, are custom 1911s; the main alterations being wooden grips and enormous ported compensators.
 * An anachronistic nickel-plated M1911A1 is used by Cal toward the end of Titanic. While the basic 1911 existed at the time, the civilian version had only been available for about a month and the A1 didn't exist until 1926.
 * Preferred 'rod' of private eye Mike Hammer, a WW 2 veteran. Stacy Keach used one in the 1980s TV series (unlike some other screen adaptations of Mickey Spillane's character) which he called "Betsy".
 * Castor Troy's guns of choice in Face Off - gold-plated, fitted with custom grips and carried in a special double holster. As it's a John Woo movie, he uses them Guns Akimbo.
 * One of the most persistent weapon in the Battlefield series, present in almost every game except for Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142.
 * Agent 47's handguns of choice are a pair of customizable 1911 clone AMT Hardballers, which he calls Silverballers.
 * In Terminator, the titular character uses an AMT Hardballer with 7" slide and laser sight.
 * Vincent and Jules both carry 1911s. Jules carries a Star 9mm (which has a long history of being used as a film stand-in for the 1911, since it's easier to adapt for blanks), and Vincent carries an Auto-Ordinance in the original .45 ACP.
 * The pistols in Left 4 Dead are fictional copies of the M1911, fitted with flashlights.
 * Possibly the mascot weapon of the Call of Duty series - it appears in every game in some form, even being usable in all but the later Modern Warfare games.
 * Call of Duty Black Ops, there is one named 'Sally' on the case and advertisement poster. The actual 'Sally' pistol appears in Zombies mode, where it can be upgraded to launch grenades alongside a second 1911 named 'Mustang'
 * Kämpfer: Akane Mishima is an M1911 wielder, although hers has some odd variations to it.
 * Baby Doll (Emily Browning) wields a 1911 and a katana throughout the stylized action sequences of Sucker Punch.
 * A pair of these are Lara's weapon of choice in the Tomb Raider games up until Angel of Darkness.
 * Roberta of Black Lagoon primarily uses a pair of South American-made Sistema Colt Modelo 1927 pistols. The Special Forces unit in the OVA can also be seen using the M1911 as a side-arm; their leader, Major Caxton, appears to have a pearl grip on his.
 * Magicka's PvP update added the Reservoir Wizard character, armed with an M1911A1 with infinite ammo.
 * One of the worst weapons available in 7.62 High Calibre: the single stack magazine gives it a very low capacity (only the revolvers are worse) and it's not especially powerful despite the .45 ACP round. It's available from the beginning of the game and best replaced as soon as possible.
 * Appears in Fallout: New Vegas DLC Honest Hearts due to the presence of Mormons (John Browning's faith). They're referred to as the .45 Autos in-game. In addition, Joshua Graham carries an Ace Custom known as "A Light Shining In Darkness" that the player gains at the end of the campaign.
 * In L.A. Noire, Cole Phelps carries one as his sidearm for the majority of the game.
 * In Perfect Dark, Joanna's signature Falcon 2 pistol is a futuristic M1911 with a metallic appearance and a Laser Sight. It can also be fitted with a scope for extra accuracy.

Browning Hi-Power
A 9mm pistol originally designed by John Browning for Belgian arms company Fabrique Nationale, and finished after his death by FN designer Dieudonne Saive, this pistol was first released in 1935, and due to Saive's invention of the double-stack magazine, carried an unprecedented 13 rounds of ammunition in the magazine. Coloquially known as the BHP, P-35, BAP (Browning Automatic Pistol), and the "King of Nines", this single action design can be seen as a successor to the 1911, to which it is very similar in design. Used by both sides in WWII, most NATO nations during the Cold War, and still used by the British Army and some Commonwealth countries, and is one of the most common firearms outside of the United States (where the 1911 is still king). Due to a magazine disconnect attached to the trigger bar, the trigger pull is often very tough for a single action pistol; many users often say "screw the warranty" and remove it. Most Hi-Powers built during the Nazi occupation of Belgium lack the magazine disconnect, while the ones made in Canada by Inglis for the Allies retained it. Like the 1911, it's old enough that clones can legally be made without the permission of FN/Browning, and many are. Some are exact copies, while others try to "improve" the original Browning/Saive design with varying degrees of success.
 * Indiana Jones uses one in a bar shootout in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
 * In Casino Royale, James Bond grabs one from a Madagascar diplomat during the Le Parkour chase scene.
 * The main characters of The Usual Suspects. In the audio commentary, the filmmakers point out how another type of gun turns into a Browning Hi-Power in between cuts.
 * Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop.
 * Batou in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex carries a fictional .45 ACP version.
 * Claire Redfield's starting weapon, after the RPD apparently upgraded to the more advanced VP70.
 * Doctor Who. Wielded by The Brigadier.
 * No mention of Anita Blake? It's her favorite weapon, after all...
 * In Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey, Mark Valdez equips Diana Tregarde with a Browning 9mm.
 * Common weapon in Fallout: New Vegas simply called 9mm Pistol.
 * 7.62 High Calibre has these, though they're fairly rare, and usually outclassed by the time they show up.
 * Jack Ryan's favorite weapon in the titular books, given it's similar to what he trained with in the Marine Corps. He proves to be a very good shot with it on multiple occasions.

Glock pistol
A semi-automatic polymer handgun designed by Gaston Glock, known as the "plastic" or "Tupperware" gun. Though the concept of a polymer framed handgun dated back to 1970 with Heckler & Koch's rather futuristic VP70 machine pistol, the Glock series were the first to truly popularise the idea. The first Glock arrived on the scene in 1982 as a full size 9mm service pistol, and has since gotten variants for almost all "service pistol" automatic calibers, in full-size, compact, and subcompact versions. The Glock has become a standard service sidearm for many government agencies (the FBI, DEA, many police departments around the world, and the Austrian military) due to its ruggedness, competitive price, simple manual of arms, and built-in safety features, though a subset of shooters enjoy recounting tales of Glocks exploding or otherwise malfunctioning. Aggressive marketing by Glock GmbH didn't hurt either; most police departments simply traded in their revolvers or older automatics for Glocks on a one-for-one basis. Perhaps the most common complaint is that dismantling the pistol requires the user to pull the trigger to release the firing pin, which has caused no shortage of accidents. Contrary to scaremongering, the gun is not "plastic" in any sense; a Glock is 80% metal by weight and shows up quite nicely on an airport metal detector. The selective-fire Glock 18 machine pistol variant is capable of firing at 1,100-1,200 RPM in fullauto mode. In recent years, a slew of imitators have arrived on the market offering similar black polymer striker-fired pistols; the Springfield XD and Smith and Wesson M&P are among the most popular. The pistol's popularity and patent expiration means one can be made using no parts made by Glock Ges.m.b.H., many superior to original parts, though trademark law discourages companies from selling one assembled.
 * As a rule, this is the gun you'll see in the hands of a modern FBI agent or member of the NYPD (IE: something like 80% of modern mysteries shows). Truth in Television of course, as noted above.
 * In movies and television, the pistol will almost always be the Glock 17 (9mm), even if the agency in question uses a Glock 21 (.45) or 22 (.40 S&W). Larger calibers are more difficult to adapt to blank fire.
 * Cowboy Bebop - Faye Valentine carries a Glock 30 (.45 ACP, a subcompact version of the full-sized Glock 21) as her Weapon of Choice.
 * Eda of Black Lagoon uses a Glock 17L (basically a longslide version of the 17) as her Weapon of Choice.
 * Duke Nukem owns what appears to be a silver modified Glock in Duke Nukem 3D.
 * Die Hard 2 talks about a non-existent "Glock 7" model, supposedly designed to get through airport scanners. This may not be the origin of the myth about "plastic handguns," but it certainly helped propagate it.
 * The company who supplied the guns for the film pointed out that the whole "Glock 7" scene was nonsense, but They Just Didn't Care.
 * Lee Paige, the only one in the room professional enough to handle the Glock forty.
 * A Glock 18 is used by Morpheus during the freeway chase in The Matrix Reloaded.
 * This is the standard sidearm in the first Half Life game and the expansion packs Opposing Force and Blue Shift. However it was replaced with the Beretta 92F with the High Definition pack that came with Blue Shift.
 * In Strange Days, Lenny Nero has one left over from his cop days stashed underneath his bed. When he suddenly has to fish it out to face a home intruder, he neglects to realize that he forgot the clip and has to creep back and find it.
 * Available in Jagged Alliance 2, where the Glock 17 is comparable to the Beretta 92F, and the Glock 18 is comparable to the Beretta 93R.
 * As expected, available in 7.62 High Caliber as a good mid-range 9mm with a high magazine capacity.
 * The Glock pistol was immortalized by gangsta rappers in The Nineties, to the point where "Glock" is still a common euphemism for "handgun", and radio stations go out of their way to bleep out the word "Glock."
 * In U.S. Marshals, Tommy Lee Jones tells Robert Downey, Jr.. to "Get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol." It becomes a major plot point later in the movie.
 * The Joker's weapon of choice in The Dark Knight. He wields a Glock 18 (in reality, a Glock 17 modified for automatic fire, due likely to the rarity of the Glock 18 itself).
 * The Fixer. John Mercer's carry gun (he uses different weapons for his hits).
 * Standard issue sidearm for ZAFT officers and pilots in Gundam Seed.
 * Wielded together with a SIG P226 by the characters in Left 4 Dead 2.
 * The Rittergruppen pistol in Alpha Protocol is modeled after Glock.
 * Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde wields one in the short story "Satanic, Versus."
 * Modern Warfare 2 has a Glock 17 modified to fire full-auto as a common sidearm for Task Force 141. An actual Glock 18 reappears in Modern Warfare 3, though it's a bit rarer this time.
 * The starting pistol for the Terrorist team in Counter-Strike, in which it can fire in both semi-auto and burst-fire modes.
 * Love Hate: "The Glock 17: Weapon of choice for the NYPD, the US Air Force and bad fuckers the world over."
 * Syphon Filter has AKA-47's of the Glock 17 and 18; the former is generically described as a 9mm Pistol, the latter is renamed/abbreviated G18.
 * Killer7's Con Smith of the Smith Syndicate uses two Glock 23's, fired sideways (though not in the usual way).
 * Lazarus Jones carries a Glock 17 as his standard sidearm in Ghost Hunter.
 * The Glock 21 appears in the first two Saints Row games, though it's called the "NR4" here.
 * Full Metal Panic!: Sousuke Sagara's preferred pistol is some form of Glock. The light novels have him use a Glock 19, while the anime had him mostly use a Glock 26.
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has Fatman use a Glock 18. While an appropriate weapon for a guy who likes to field strip his weapon and reassemble it often to keep his hands busy, he is somehow able to fire it full-auto while dashing around on rollerblades while also wearing a massive bomb blast suit.

CZ75
A 9mm pistol created by the Czech state arms factory (later privatized as Česká zbrojovka a.s. Uherský Brod), the CZ75 was one of the more highly praised of the "Wonder Nines;" even famed M1911 advocate Colonel Jeff Cooper grudgingly admitted that if you absolutely had to have a 9mm, it might as well be this one, and based his Bren Ten design on the weapon. Praised for its appearance (vaguely reminiscent of the M1911 and particularly its 9mm cousin, the Browning Hi-Power), grip, and accuracy, and noted for being subject to a truly ridiculous string of abuse during trials. Unlike most semiautomatic pistols, the slide assembly actually rides inside of the frame, allowing the weapon both large tolerances for dirt and oil while maintaining good accuracy. In addition and unlike most 9mm pistols, the default safety is not a decocker model, allowing 1911-style "cocked and locked" carry. A number of clone manufacturers exist, aided by the fact that CZ used a secret patent (allowed in Czechoslovakia but not recognized by many other countries), and CZ itself has released new polymer and steel-framed tactical variants. Due to its high praise at a period in which East-West relations were not very warm, the original "short rail" and "pre-B" models were at a premium price point, commanding up to a thousand dollars apiece in 1980s dollars. Since large-scale importation of CZ pistols began in 1993, prices have subsided to the "normal" range for imported service pistols.

Anime and Manga

 * Rally Vincent from Gunsmith Cats carries one of these; in the manga, a long speech is dedicated to praising the original model and explaining the difference between it and the later versions.
 * Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion (although actually finding this borders on a Freeze-Frame Bonus).
 * Gates, the crazed villain from Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid.
 * Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop carries an Israeli-made clone, the IMI Jericho 941.
 * Rico from Gunslinger Girl carries an early model.

Live-Action TV

 * Sonny Crockett's carry gun from Miami Vice, the Bren Ten, was a beefed-up clone firing the powerful 10mm Auto cartridge. Also a Rare Gun, as poor quality control and worse marketing caused the Bren Ten, despite being a rather good design, to be a flop.

Video Games

 * Appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops, in spite of the game taking place several years before its introduction. Special Agent Hudson uses two of them as his sidearms in Kowloon, and it's carried by both allied CIA and enemy Spetsnaz units. The rarer full-auto variant is also available.

SIG P210
A single action 9mm pistol (also available in .22LR and the obsolete .30 Luger calibers) first introduced in 1947, this is, hands-down, one of the best 9mm pistols ever devised. Like the CZ-75, the slide rides inside of the frame, contributing to it's legendary, target pistol-like accuracy (production models included the paper target used to "sight-in" the gun at 50 yards, often showing a 2" or smaller group). It was replaced by the Swiss Army in 1975 with the double-action SIG P220, but is still in use by the Danish Army. The weapon is very common in shooting sports, and will often fetch close to $2000 on the open market for used models (two to five times what a modern 9mm pistol will go for). SIG has reintroduced the pistol to the market in recent years, although its heavily machined and hand-fitted nature means prices aren't likely to go down anytime soon.
 * Used by mobsters in Once Upon a Time in America
 * A Commemerative Editon shows up in the hands of James Bond in Quantum of Solace.
 * Used by Michael Caine in Get Carter.
 * Twin P210-2s are the favoured weapons of Madlax.
 * An issue of The Punisher in the 1980's featured Frank getting one of these from an old woman in his neighborhood. Unfortunately, it's the .30 Luger version, which means he's out of luck as far as actually shooting it.

SIG-Sauer P226, P228 and P229
A 9mm pistol designed by Swiss/German gun company SIG-Sauer, based on the single-stack P220 (used by the Swiss army), the P226 was introduced in 1984 and came in second to a US military contract only to the above-mentioned Beretta 92. The P226, however, found favor with the US Navy SEALs, becoming their standard sidearm until its eventual replacement with the more compact P228. The P228 itself was eventually phased out in favor of the more modern, variable-caliber P229, but because of their solid construction and reliable performance, even the older models are still in use with many different military security forces and civilian police departments. Despite being a Swiss design, most of the weapons in circulation in Europe and the US are actually manufactured in the company's Germany and New Hampshire factories, due to a Swiss law which severely restricts the number of actual Swiss-manufactured handguns that can be exported yearly.
 * Officers Ann Lewis and Alex Murphy of RoboCop are shown using P226s, though most of the other officers use Berettas or Walthers.
 * Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, Todd and David of NCIS have P228s (later, P229s) as their agency-issued sidearms, just like their real-life counterparts.
 * From the FBI side of things, Agents Mulder and Scully both carry P228s in The X Files. (Early seasons also depicted Scully with the P239, a much smaller concealed-carry variant of the P-series, and usually seen in conjunction with a rather distinctive small-of-the-back holster.)
 * Jack Bauer uses a two-tone P228 in the first two seasons.
 * Lieutenant McClane uses a P229 in Live Free Or Die Hard.
 * Butler the Battle Butler from Artemis Fowl wields many weapons, but has a SIG Sauer as his primary sidearm.
 * Marcus and Mike carry P228s in Bad Boys.
 * The basic pistol in Left 4 Dead 2.
 * Michael Westen's pistol of choice in Burn Notice is a SIG Sauer P228, which he mentions explicitly at least once.
 * Kris Hartmann's issued weapon is a P228. It's become associated with her to the point of forum members jokingly shipping the two.
 * Giant Mook Ronald Neidermann is mentioned as using an unspecified SIG-Sauer pistol in The Girl Who Played With Fire, and is shown using a P228 in the film of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.
 * Available for use in Counter-Strike, in which it is the middling pistol between the lighter USP and the heavier Desert Eagle.

FN Five-seven
The Five-seven is a handgun with an all polymer frame and slide. Like the P90, it fires the 5.7x28mm round. Although it is praised for its accuracy, durability and low recoil, it initially did not gain widespread use in either the law enforcement / military or civilian market, mainly due to the limited sources of ammunition and the stigma associated with the small PDW round. For the enthusiasts, it has higher cost of practice, since it works well only if fed the proper fabric rounds. Due to its high magazine capacity (20 rounds, with 30 round aftermarket magazines available, but is sold with 10 round magazines in locations where the laws dictate bullet capacity limits), armor-piercing abilities, supposed use by criminals and involvement in one high-profile shooting (Fort Hood; the only documented actual use by a criminal), the pistol has acquired a significant Hatedom from gun control advocates.
 * Counter-Strike, even though its considered nerfed by most of the players, its accuracy makes it popular for Cherry Tapping via headshots.
 * Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield
 * Splinter Cell as Sam Fisher's sidearm.
 * Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain
 * Canaan, tactical version, Alphard's Weapon of Choice.
 * Snake's standard handgun in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, and purchasable in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
 * In the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, this was the standard-issue sidearm for the Colonial military from season 2 onwards. It was slightly modified with a microgrenade launcher on the accessory rail.
 * Shows up in UFO: Aftermath as a findable weapon. Very effective at penetrating armor, not so much against anything else. Not to mention the very low range.
 * The Samael pistol in Alpha Protocol is modeled after the Five-Seven.
 * Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 can purchase a Five-seveN from the merchant under the name Punisher. This also explains why the gun has the ability to penetrate through enemies.
 * Available in 7.62 High Calibre as a very high-end (read: expensive) handgun. It has the largest semi-automatic mag of any handgun, high potential damage, and a very good accuracy rating. The only thing it doesn't have going for it is that the associated silencer/suppressor cannot be used on any other weapon, is rare, and very expensive when found.
 * It appears in Modern Warfare 3, essentially taking over the role formerly filled by the Beretta 92SB in previous games, and is used by practically every faction at one point or another. Its magazine capacity in-game is reduced from the proper 20 to 15, probably for balancing reasons.

Mauser C96
The first commercially successful automatic pistol, with unauthorised copies still being made to this day. Variously nicknamed the "broomhandle," (due to the shape of the grip), "box cannon" (in China, due to the square integral magazine and fact that it could be holstered inside its own stock), and "Red 9" (the 9mm version, due to the large number nine burned into the stock and painted red; this was to prevent soldiers from trying to load it with the original 7.63mm bullets). In its day, the 7.63mm version was something of a Hand Cannon, with the highest muzzle velocity of any commercial pistol cartridge until the introduction of the .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935. Which gave it greater effective range than most of contemporary handguns - it was sold as a pistol-carbine and became popular with travellers and hunters at the time. Another reason may have been its field maintenance friendly design (relatively few parts, no pins and one screw in the entire gun, it just fits together like a puzzle box). Vastly popular in the 1920's and 30's, most notably in the Russian Civil War, Spanish Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War, despite rather poor ergonomics. In the 1920 a lot of short-barrel version was purchased by Soviet Union, earning nickname "Bolo-mauser" (Bolsheviks' Mauser) and influencing later demand for TT. It was loaded with "stripper clips" that fed through the top, though later versions, such as the M1932/M712 Schnellfeuer, would incorporate a 20-round detachable box magazine and were modified to fire full-auto (see Gangsta Style). Noted for its detachable wooden shoulder stock which doubled as a holster (a feature copied by many later machine pistols), its photogenic appearance caused the C96 to be used in countless Saturday afternoon serials. The original featured a flip-up tangent sight very similar to the one used on the AK series of assault rifles; in something of a display of wishful thinking (to an even greater degree than was common in rifles of that era), this was calibrate for ranges out to one kilometre. Chinese copies are extremely common, some dating to the 20s and 30s and some being rather more recent for export sale. One famous Chinese version was an enlarged .45 ACP model by the Shansi Arsenal, for warlord Chang Tso-ling (who wanted his "security forces" to have a C96 chambered in the same round as their Thompson submachine guns).
 * Carbine variants (with longer barrel and fixed wooden stock) M1896 Kavallerie Karabiner and Model 1917 (aka "Trench Carbine"). Very rare, as they weren't mass produced, only a few of prototypes are still around.
 * Cool Action: Attaching the wooden stock. If a C96 has a wooden stock on it, or a character is shown putting it on, chances are it is going to be used for a long distance shot. Full-auto fire as well, even if the '96 involved is not a Schnellfeuer.
 * Mel Gibson has one (among many other weapons) in the third Mad Max movie.
 * Used to tear-jerking effect in the final scene of Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade.
 * In Star Wars, Han Solo's DL-44 blaster is built around one of these, as you can see in the close-up before he shoots Greedo. Luke Skywalker also carries a C96-based blaster in The Empire Strikes Back, though it gets little actual use.
 * Demonbane from Deus Machina Demonbane uses a SERIOUSLY upscaled C96 (while being a Humongous Mecha, no less).
 * Elliott Gould wields one Guns Akimbo with a P-38 in the WW 2 action movie Escape to Athena.
 * EVA in Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4 has one of these as her Weapon of Choice, apparently because Hideo Kojima had been wanting to use it in one of his games for years but only now had a plausible reason to. Hers is actually the .45 Chinese copy,
 * An archaeologist shoots at Sufficiently Advanced Aliens with a full-auto version, in the opening scene of The Fifth Element.
 * Murderface's "driving gun" in Metalocalypse.
 * The Red 9 version is featured in Resident Evil 4 where it is among one of the best weapons.
 * Ian McKellen uses it to slay the previous King and his son in the opening scene of Richard III.
 * Rotton the Wizard carries two Schnellfeuer Mausers in akimbo mode in Black Lagoon, as part of his generally cool look. He usually gets blasted before he can use them.
 * Professional "freelancer" Jon Sable of Jon Sable Freelance uses a customized C96 Mauser: specifically, the Chinese Shanxi Tye 17 (firing .45 ACP rounds) as a base, with the box-magazine loading mechanisim of the 'Schnellfeuer' model instead of the stripper clip-loaded internal magazine. This is his primary firearm for much of the comic.
 * This is one of the modern weapons available in Red Dead Redemption.
 * J.P. Stiles in Tall Tale uses a pair of these, in keeping with his representing the advance of modernity upon the untamed west.
 * "The Captain" from Hellsing wields two of them with very, VERY long (full carbine length) barrels.
 * Three Days of the Condor. Career Killer Joubert aims a scoped, silenced and stocked Mauser at the protagonist, but can't get a clear shot.
 * Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Crack marksman Sebastian Moran actually recommends one to Holmes when he catches him snooping around an arms factory; Holmes later takes his advice.
 * Doctor Doom often carried a Mauser for people he wanted to kill who he felt were worthy to die at his armor's weaponry.
 * 7.62 High Caliber has the M712 machine pistol available, along with the rare carbine variant with an extended barrel and stock. It incorrectly fires 7.62mm Tokarev rounds, possibly because they figured that 7.62x25mm Tokarev is close enough to 7.63x25mm Mauser and they didn't want to add a new ammo type for a single weapon. Regardless, it has relatively low stopping power, offset by the full auto capability and the large magazines available allowing for it to be used as a close quarters room sweeper.
 * The Mauser is a recurring weapon throughout the Fallout series.
 * Warhammer 40,000 has many patterns of laspistols obviously imitating Mauser design (boxy shape, magazine well as a part of trigger guard, handle angle), though usually with better grip.
 * Only War also got "Carbine" customization for Pistol type weapons (mostly, adding stock).
 * Fist of Legend has Hanyang C96 used by Captain Jie, Uncle Noh and assorted Shanghai policemen.
 * The Green Hornet has a Broomhandle modified for spraying Knockout Gas in the comics. In the 2011 adaptation there's a "gas gun" made of pipes instead.

COP 357 Derringer
Designed as a backup weapon that could fire the same rounds as a police officer's service revolver, though its heavy weight and trigger pull turned out to be a problem. Nevertheless, the COP's four muzzles make it a distinctively menacing weapon for the silver screen.
 * KGB agent Natalia Tiemerovna uses a COP at one stage in The Survivalist series by Jerry Ahern. John Rourke also has one among his impressive armoury.
 * The Big Bad tries to pull one of these out of his coat pocket at the end of Bad Boys in an attempt to finish off the protagonists when their backs are turned, unfortunately for him
 * This is the gun Leon shoots Holden with in the opening scene of Blade Runner, likely inspiring its use in other sci-fi contexts such as:
 * Matrix Reloaded. Persephone uses this on one of the Merovingian's mooks.
 * Battlestar Galactica. Under the fiction model name of 'Stallion', this was a civilian gun used by various criminal types (such as Tom Zarek's men), and by Romo Lampkin to threaten Lee Adama in "Sine Qua Non".
 * Standard carry gun of Lumiere, in the anime Kiddy Grade.
 * The COP's distinctive four-barreled design appears in Team Fortress 2 as the basis for the Shortstop, an alternative primary weapon that can be found or created for the Scout class. Unlike the COP, it appears to fire ratshot or snakeshot, as each pull of the trigger fires a four-pellet spread.
 * Used by Devon Aoki's character in War