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{{trope}}
[[File:600holdgun 9038.jpg|frame|Yes, folks, that's a [[wikipedia:Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express revolver|real gun]]. .600 caliber, in fact.]]
{{quote|''"You see the size of that gun he fired at us? It was bigger than him."''|'''Jules''', ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''}}
It's big. It's bulky. It's heavy, [[Awesome Yet Impractical|impractical]], and loud. It looks really, really cool. Sometimes, [[Bling Bling Bang|it has a nickel finish, or better yet, gold.]] It may even [[I Call It "Vera"|have a name.]] It's the '''Hand Cannon'''.
Which type of gun fills this role varies by time period. Back in [[The Seventies]], it was a [[Revolvers Are Just Better|.357 or .44 Magnum revolver]], like the [[wikipedia:Colt Python|Colt Python]]. and the [[wikipedia:Smith & Wesson Model 29|Smith & Wesson Model 29]]. Eventually, automatics firing the same rounds were introduced. The modern successor to the crown of most ridiculously oversized handgun is the Israeli Military Industries [[wikipedia:Desert Eagle|Desert Eagle]] in .50 Action Express. Bigger and more powerful handguns exist (like the Automag V), but they don't have the same media presence and generally look much less [[Rule of Cool|cool]]. And if bullets just don't cut it, they can always use a [[Sawed-Off Shotgun]] or the [[wikipedia:M79 grenade launcher|M79 grenade launcher]], which can be (clumsily) fired one-handed.
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Often, in [[Video Games]], the Desert Eagle is used as a symbol of just how badass the military is, never minding the fact that a huge fucking gun like a Desert Eagle would never be used by any unit, Special Ops or otherwise, because they're just too damn heavy and loud (not to mention only having a 7 shot magazine). In series where the heroes battle supernatural or cybernetically enhanced beings, weapons like these may well be necessary to take down their [[Made of Iron]]/[[Nigh Invulnerable]] enemies, which conventional weapons just aren't enough for. Guns that shoot [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] and other such energy weapons are rarely used in this trope, as [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]] works well... better here.
You know you're dealing with either this or a [[
A subtrope of [[Bigger Is Better]]. Differs from [[
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and Manga ==
* The vampire [[Dracula|Alucard]] in ''[[Hellsing]]'': he carries an awesomely huge pistol (39
** In
** Although not quite as impressive as the above examples, Luke Valentine uses a cut-down M1 Garand - a rifle firing rounds slightly bigger than the standard 7.62mm.
* [[Human Aliens|Human alien]] Vash the Stampede in ''[[Trigun]]''. His sidearm is a [https://web.archive.org/web/20130708112424/http://www.kitsune.addr.com/Firearms/Revolvers/Mateba_Model_6.jpg Mateba Model 6 Unica] semi-auto revolver (chambered in .45 Long Colt, a slightly shorter predecessor of the .454 Casull round), but it contains a piece of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that allows it to merge with his arm and become the [[Arm Cannon|Angel Arm]], a [[Wave Motion Gun|beam weapon]] of [[Sphere of Destruction|monstrous destructive power]]. His [[Evil Twin]] Knives (who designed and built the gun in question) has an identical example (which can also form the Angel Arm), except his is black while Vash's is silver ("Blue" and "Nickel" respectively in gun-talk).
** Wolfwood wields a huge cross that doubles as a gun after a point in the series. Also in the Anime there's Chapel the Evergreen who has a similar one but splits into two. However, it is "just" a [[
* In the anime [[OVA]] ''[[Angel Cop]]'', one character totes around a gigantic gun that's actually intended for use by a character in a strength-augmenting suit of armor. She's warned that firing it too often will eventually destroy every muscle in her arms.
* The exact same thing occurs in the OVA ''[[Burn Up
* ''[[Patlabor]]'': Revolvers the size of Volkswagens! Mind you though, they ''are'' for [[Humongous Mecha]].
* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' has its own vicious way with this trope using a [[Giant Mook]] neo-Nazi who claims that only a man of his gigantic proportions can handle his [[Bling Bling Bang|gold-plated Luger]] chambered for .454 Casull. Revy [[Talk to the Fist|guns him down while he's still ranting]] about the capabilities of his weapon. She then points out (while sitting on his chest, which is still bleeding from her shooting him) that having a weapon that huge isn't even necessary, because all a bullet needs to do is hit the target to kill it. She proves her point by shooting him in the face at point blank range with her 9mm handgun.
** Especially amusing since Revy was out at the time and spent his rant calmly reloading.
** ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' also has plenty of other characters (most of them villains) with oversized weapons, including Yolanda, the old nun from the Church of Violence who fires a gold-plated .50 AE Desert Eagle one handed; Gretel, a small girl and one of a pair of truly [[Creepy Twins]], who fires a BAR from the hip; and even a ''[[Terminator
* Corporal Randel Oland from ''[[Pumpkin Scissors]]'' and his 13mm armor-piercing hand-gun (the "Door Knocker") - which is used by special infantry to go up against tanks.
* Both Leon and Priss carry Hand Cannons in ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]''.
** Leon especialy has a futuristic break-top style revolver called the "Earth Shaker" chambered in [https://web.archive.org/web/20201113170700/http://www.vincelewis.net/60magnum.html .600 Nitro Express] with only three chambers in the cylinder. Considering that he's a member of a special police force which has to fight killer cyborgs who can shrug off small arms fire with ease, it's kind of understandable that he would carry something with more punch with him.
* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'' has a couple of examples of this, the most notable of which are Tres' twin M13 Jerichos.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'',
* David from ''[[
*** Better to die on your feet shooting than unarmed and cowering. I suppose if you found the human before it transformed, it might be good in stopping them right then and there.
* Mana Tatsumiya in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' normally [[Guns Akimbo|dual-wields]] Desert Eagles. They may or may not be air gun replicas, but can certainly fire real bullets, or at least [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells]]. Keep in mind that firing a Desert Eagle in a single hand could potentially break the user's arm through recoil.
** Contrary to popular belief, large-caliber handguns actually have ''less'' recoil than smaller-caliber ones, due to increased mass which helps compensate for the force and energy of the bullet leaving the gun, and due to the smoothness of the Desert Eagle's action in particular, it wouldn't kick nearly hard enough to break someone's arm.
* Killy's Gravity Beam Emitter in Tsutomu Nihei's ''[[Blame]]'' better fits into a [[Wave Motion Gun]] category, both due to its truly ''[[Earthshattering Kaboom|immense]]'' [[Earthshattering Kaboom|firepower]] and enormous recoil, but it's still a ''pistol''. And it isn't even all that big.
* [http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2119/blazerm.jpg Blazer Mode] of [[The Gunslinger|Teana's]] [[Handguns|Cross Mirage]], which was introduced in ''[[
* Kurausorasu from ''[[Iono the Fanatics]]'' is another Desert Eagle [[Guns Akimbo|dual-wielder]]. The fact that she can do that so easily was explicitly mentioned to be a sign of her possessing [[Super Strength]].
* ''[[Wicked City]]''{{'}}s protagonist Taki wields a revolver with an undisclosed modification specifically for demon hunting. The resulting force from every shot in the entire film throws him into walls, and unlike some animes the shots always have devastating results.
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', the spent casings from the Eva-sized handguns and assault rifles are big enough to crush cars.
** Not that the damn things are ever actually useful. Except for Matariel.
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* Parodied [[Trope Overdosed|(and what isn't?)]] in ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', where [[The Chew Toy|Mikuru]] is made to [[Dual Wield]] airsoft Desert Eagles for the student film. In her hands the guns are comically oversized, which is only made worse by the absurd extended barrels.
* Kiritsugu Emiya from ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' favours a Thompson Contender chambered for rifle cartridges as his main weapon. He furthermore uses custom-made bullets (containing his own ground-up bones) that [[Anti-Magic|disturb magic]].
** To say "disturb" magic is to massively understate it, whatever the bullets hit is severed and then tied together into a knot, essentially, presumably on a very small scale, if it hit a person, the surrounding area would have all the muscles, nerves, and veins severed and knotted, making them useless and causing fatal bleeding. If it hits an expression of magic, it cuts apart the magic circuits of the caster of the spell, ties them together, and causes the mana in the person to explode out of them.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Sam and Max
* In Mike Mignola's ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]'' series, the title character packs the Samaritan; a 20mm (.79
** Well, the [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells]] are kind of a necessity no matter how crappy a shot he is; if he's firing the thing at all, he's probably up against something that's immune to fists.
** He's a lousy
* In the ''[[The Warlord]]'' comics, Travis Morgan carries a .44 AutoMag which was certainly never a standard issue sidearm for USAF officers. It also qualifies as an instance of [[Rare Guns]].
* Some of these show up in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'': .45 revolvers, .50 pistols, and one piece the [[Big Bad]] maniacally refers to as "Doomcock". The [[The Grim Reaper|Saint]] [[Implacable Man|Of]] [[The Juggernaut|Killers]] also [[Guns Akimbo|wields a pair of]] Walker Colt revolvers, which pack .44 ball and was arguably the most powerful handgun until magnum revolvers appeared in the 20th century. More specifically, they're a pair of Walker Colts forged from what used to be the [[Grim Reaper|Angel of Death's]] sword which makes them [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|Weapons of Mass Destruction]]. Revolvers which can kill {{spoiler|God}}.
* When [[Nick Fury]] makes his return to the mainstream [[Marvel Universe]] during the Skrull invasion of New York in ''Secret Invasion'', he does so wielding a gun that's about as big as he is.
* In ''[[Jon Sable Freelance]]'', one of Sable's preferred weapons is a chrome .357 Magnum pepperbox. As a prototype that never made it into production, it also counts as an instance of [[Rare Guns]].
* Mr. Shlubb and Mr. Klump, [[Those Two Bad Guys|two]] [[Delusions of Eloquence|loquacious]] hitmen in the ''[[Sin City]]'' series, use [[RoboCop]]'s Auto-9 machine-pistol (it's actually the same prop, even). Hartigan uses it akimbo with another gun to blow them both away in ''That Yellow Bastard''.
* ''[[Lobo]]'' uses pretty much nothing but Hand Cannons or [[
* Marvel Comics' ''[[Marvel 2099|Punisher 2099]]'' uses as his main weapon the circa-2015 manufactured Smith & Wesson .54 Magnum full-automatic revolver. It's belt-fed and can fire 6 rounds a second (360 a minute). One character later observes that this weapon usually leaves the Punisher's victims with a "hole in the chest...and a missing back."
* In one issue of ''[[ABC Warriors]]'', workcrew on a massive terraforming operation on Mars have been going missing. The woman in charge carries a massive hand cannon with three chambers, but only three rounds. It is capable of killing anything it hits. She is eventually killed by hundreds of Martian animals after using up her three rounds.
* In ''[[Batman|Detective Comics]] #841'', the Mad Hatter uses a revolver that is actually fairly normal... if you don't take into account its four foot long barrel; It's easily mistaken for a walking cane.
* In what seems to be a [[Shout-Out]] to the ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'' reference below, a character in the '''very''' [[NSFW]] ''[[Lann]]'' by Frank Thorne says about his favored machine pistol, "This is ''not'' a ''gun''. It's a ''poem''. An ''ode'' to ''death''. It ''shoots through schools -- of sharks!''"
* Early in Howard Chaykin's ''[[American Flagg!]]'', an ad is seen for the ".666 Magrum" ('''not''' Magnum, for some reason) semi-automatic pistol. This later appears to be title character Reuben Flagg's preferred sidearm.
== [[Film]] ==
* Deckard's gun from ''[[Blade Runner]]''. Is it a blaster? Naw, but there is nothing like a gun that puts a four foot hole in... well anything.
* Colonel Douglas Mortimer in the [[Western]] ''[[For a Few Dollars More]]'' wields a Buntline Special that may be cumbersome on the draw, but can pack one hell of a punch with deadly accuracy.
* In ''[[Star Wars]]'', Han Solo's pistol is the [[Energy Weapon]] equivalent - a handgun many times larger than holdout hand blasters and with power closer to blaster ''rifles''. It only gets a few shots per power pack, but it only needs to hit once, being able to blow torso-sized chunks out of concrete walls or instantly incinerating Greedo before [[Han Shot First|he could ever fire a single shot.]]
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* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'s character in the movie ''[[Red Heat]]'' wasn't impressed by the .44 Magnum he was loaned, when his personal gun (a hand cannon in its own right) was confiscated.
** The Hand Cannon in question was a customised Desert Eagle, presented as the soviet [http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Red_Heat#.22Podbyrin_9.2mm_Pistol.22 "Podbyrin 9.2 mm"]. Arnold's character describes it as "the most powerful handgun in the world".
* The
** Speaking of the Joker, we also have [https://web.archive.org/web/20070106185259/http://www.vacuumboy9.com/tlh/3p9.jpg this charming little panel from ''The Long Halloween''.] (
* In the Prohibition-era gangster parody ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'', Danny Vermin shows off his .88 Magnum. "It shoots through ''schools''."
* In ''[[Charlie's Angels|Charlie's Angels
* ''[[Snatch]].'' Bullet Tooth Tony and his "Desert Eagle. Point five-o."
* At one point in ''[[Hard Boiled]]'', Mad Dog, [[The Dragon]], uses a Thompson/Center Contender, a single-shot pistol that uses rifle bullets, and which he's apparently modified to spit the spent cartridges out in slow-mo, to fight Tequila and Alan. This pistol appears to be using a .30-06 barrel.
* In the Woo-directed Van Damme flick ''[[Hard Target]]'' the main villain Fouchon (played by Lance Henriksen) also favored a Thompson single-shot pistol (in .45-70 Gov't!) as his main firearm.
* Hungarian movie ''[[Argo]]'' features a character called Psycho carrying a
* In ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', Jules and Vincent get shot at by a guy with a Hand Cannon, but [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|every shot misses]]. "Did you see that gun he fired at us? It was bigger than him."
* A [[Western]] example from ''[[True Grit]]'':
{{quote|'''Rooster Cogburn:''' Why, by God, girl, that's a Colt's Dragoon! You're no bigger than a corn nubbin, what're you doing with all this pistol?▼
▲'''Rooster Cogburn:''' Why, by God, girl, that's a Colt's Dragoon! You're no bigger than a corn nubbin, what're you doing with all this pistol?
'''Mattie Ross:''' It belonged to my father, he carried it bravely in the war, and I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it if the law fails to do so.
'''Rooster Cogburn:''' Well, this'll sure get the job done if you can find a fence post to rest it on while you take aim.}}
** ''[[The Cowboys]]'' had [[John Wayne]] telling the boys he had for cowhands to put their guns in a wagon. Cue the smallest boy extracting the largest gun from his belt.
* The opening scene of ''[[Desperado]]'' has El Mariachi's buddy spin a story of how he cleared a bar with a sawed-off and a de-stocked [[wikipedia:Armsel Striker|Armsel Protecta]] shotgun, which manage to throw your average Mexican about ten feet in the air with one shot:
{{quote|'''Buscemi''': The stranger... he ''bolts'' out of his bar-stool like you wouldn't believe, he grabs his case and he dives right in the middle of the room with it! Just dives right in! Now, I don't know what he does on that floor, but he's up in two shakes, his suitcase is wide open, and he's pulled God knows what out of it, but it's the biggest hand cannon I've ever ''fucking seen!''}}
* In the [[Vigilante Man]] flick
{{quote|'''John Goodman''': You got the bastards of bastards, .357. A guaranteed head removal. That's... that's a sweetie. You got your standard-size .45, super-sized. That's a fucking Hungry Man right there. And you got the king of mayhem. Half-cannon. Sword of justice. Take this fucker to the holy land, start your own crusade. Any one of these is bound to make you feel better of what's bothering you.}}
* In ''[[Alien Nation (film)|Alien Nation]]'', James Caan's character upgrades from his police-issue sidearm to a Freedom Arms Model 83, a 5-round .454 Casull revolver, in order to combat the Newcomer gang that killed his partner. At the time the film was made (1988), this was the most powerful handgun/cartridge commercially available.
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* Paul Kersey's friend "Wildey" from ''[[Death Wish 3]]'' is the world's most powerful production semi-automatic. The bullet has as much impact energy at 100 yards as the .44 Magnum has at 1 yard. Unlike most examples here, the .475 Wildey Magnum has a relatively manageable recoil.
* Almost all the major characters in ''[[Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man]]'' wield a Hand Cannon at some point in the movie, ranging from .44 Magnum Desert Eagles to .454 Casull Rugers.
'''Harley:''' Hey... I learned to shoot using one of these.
▲'''Marlboro:''' "Man, why in the hell are you carrying a hand cannon like that?"
'''
* In ''[[The Boondock Saints
▲* In ''[[The Boondock Saints]]: All Saints Day'', the Saints trade in the silenced Berettas from the first film in favor of Desert Eagles.
** In the original movie, the two trade in two .50-caliber Desert Eagles used by two Russian mob dudes who tried to murder them, along with a pager and a money clip, in order to get their hands on their original arsenal.
* In ''[[Police Academy
** Any scene involving Tackleberry. Particularly [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vom9iLDfb-Y this scene] from the first movie.
* Every agent in ''[[The Matrix]]'' spawns (literally) with a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum in their jacket pocket. (Some are even outfitted with [[Bottomless Magazines]].)
* ''[[I Come in Peace (film)|I Come in Peace]]'' (aka ''Dark Angel'') has an alien pistol that when fired, blows up entire rooms ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlZbj4knIYw example], with a car).
* In ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'' it is shown that
{{quote|'''Hellboy:''' I'm not a very good shot, but the Samaritan uses really big bullets.}}
** In the second movie, he gets an even ''bigger'' gun, that apparently uses clockwork to fire, has about sixteen barrels, and fires pairs of flaming shotgun shells. It is called the "Big Baby" and he uses this to destroy a forest god.
{{quote|'''Hellboy:''' You woke up the baby!}}
* The toon revolver in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' is abnormally large. Possibly because all of its bullets are sentient.
* Leslie Nielsen briefly wields a ridiculously over-sized Magnum at the end of
* In ''[[Drive Angry]]'' John Milton steals a five barreled Hand Cannon from Hell called the Godkiller. It has 3 shots in it and can be used to kill demons.
* The title character of ''[[
* ''[[Judge Dredd (film)|Judge Dredd]]''. The Lawgiver II pistol used by Judges, which is also able to switch ammo types by voice command.
== [[Literature]] ==
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* In ''[[The Executioner]]'' series of novels, protagonist Mack Bolan carries a .44 AutoMag, the first automatic pistol to use .44 magnum ammunition. He later switches from that to a Desert Eagle.
* In ''[[Against a Dark Background]]'' by [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks]], protagonist Sharrow has this literally; the model name of her gun is FrintArms HandCannon.
** Another shows up in the form of a gun much like Killy's from "BLAME!" in the short story collection ''State of the Art''.
* In the [[Western]] novels of [[J. T. Edson]], the preferred handgun of the Ysabel Kid is a Colt Dragoon, nicknamed "the thumb buster" because of its recoil.
* In the ''[[Doc Savage]]'' novels, Patricia Savage's signature weapon is an old six-shooter handed down from her grandfather - a Colt Frontier Single Action .44 with the trigger filed off and a fanning spur welded on the hammer, which she carries in her purse.
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* Dr. Theophilus Algernon Tanner of the Deathlands adventure series and his always trusty [[Le Mat]] revolver. He's blown away many a "mutie" with the .63 caliber "grapeshot" round fired from the gun's underbarrel.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Deputy Jo Lupo from ''[[Eureka]]'' loves Hand Cannons, having an entire drop-down rack of them. When she administered the weapon familiarity test to the sheriff, he had to take it several times to pass.
* Hammer's .44 Magnum in ''[[Sledge Hammer!]]'' is not only a blatant phallic symbol, it's the only thing keeping Hammer sane... well when he isn't talking to it... or sleeping with it.
* ''[[Firefly
** Zoe's main sidearm is a "Mare's Leg," a cut-down Winchester 1892 carbine worn in a hip-holster.
** Lots of people on Firefly have massive pistols. Jayne's estranged former partner in
** Even Mal gets an honorable mention: his gun fires .303-caliber ''rifle rounds''.
* [[Bones]] acquires an extremely large handgun when she is being threatened by one of the villains of the week. It is clearly too large for her to handle, as shown in the Halloween episode when she fires it at a bad guy with a shotgun, she misses completely, and it knocks her back, so she gives it to Booth. Even he has trouble firing it successfully. But, boy, does it look [[Rule of Cool|threatening]]. Its ridiculous power eventually comes in handy when Booth uses it to shoot a bad guy through an inch-thick solid-steel door.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The oversized bolt pistols and SMGs of ''[[Warhammer
** [[Dark Heresy]] has a pistol subtype that is actually named Hand Cannon. While not the most powerful sidearm in the game by any standard, it is fairly effective (especially when loaded with armor-piercing rounds) and its low price makes it attractive to players who can't afford a bolt pistol (there are plasma pistols and Inferno pistols as well, but they're so rare and expensive they only exist in the game to taunt you). Mechanically, it does marginally more damage than most handheld firearms and has at least some armor penetration even without improved ammo. Also, it has penalty for firing with one hand - half of that for rifle-sized weapons (the same goes for Carbine, but Hand Cannon uses Pistol [Solid Projectile] skill and Carbine still uses Basic [weapon type] skill). Has its uses, obviously, but noted to be mostly a [[Weapon for Intimidation]].
** There's also Hellpistol - a smaller version of Hellgun (high-powered, but less reliable type of laser weapon). Only twice as expensive as Handcannon, has greater rate of fire and very good armor penetration (better than standard bolts and more on par with plasma pistol). Of course, it's more of an agile main weapon good in close quarters, rather than a true sidearm: "smaller" here means that laser part is 4 kg rather than 6, but still cable-fed from the same 10 kg power pack (carried under a regular backpack), so there's that. It's not for showing off, it's for the times when you seriously expect something chitin-clad to jump out of bushes or debris and try to chew your face. Amusingly, this weapon still can be legitimately [[Guns Akimbo|used akimbo]] (e.g. with belt powerpack under larger backpack/powerpack - 25 kg of batteries, 40+80 shots total). Though since dealing with threats that already got too close is the reason to carry a hellpistol rather than a full-sized hellgun in the first place, the [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:HSLaspistol.jpg standard usage] is to [[Sword and Gun|complement it with a melee weapon]] which allows parrying.
*** Voss Pattern hellpistol - less powerful, but still has armor penetration as good as a heavy machinegun and can use common laspistol charge packs (drains them 4:1). There are also duel laspistols - almost as hot, accurate at longer ranges, but single-shot only.
* The ''[[Shadowrun]]'' Eichiro Hatamoto II is a pistol that fires a single shotgun slug. It's recommended not to miss. Then there's the Remington Roomsweeper, which is kind of like a [[Sawed-Off Shotgun]], except not. It's a pistol that fires shotgun slugs. It's noted that it's damn hard to fire.
* ''[[Cyberpunk]]''{{'}}s weaponry supplements have many examples of this, as they're intended for use by and against cyber-enhanced combatants. One of the most memorable is the 'Hellbringer,' a 3-round .666 caliber magnum revolver. There's also the Colt AMT, an eight-shot revolver that fires very large bullets. The caliber is not specified but it causes very high damage in-game.
** Characters who have full body cybernetic conversions or are wearing powered armour can also carry firearms such as "assault rifles" chambered in .50 BMG or 14.5x114 RUS, as well as a 4 gauge autoshotgun and a 10 gauge, 6-barrel gatling shotgun with a back-mounted ammo hopper.
* Subverted in ''[[Iron Kingdoms|Warmachine]]'' where many warcasters carry guns that are called Hand Cannons but which are no bigger than the setting's average handgun. Most of the time.
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* ''[[Mechwarrior]]'', the tabletop RPG of the ''[[BattleTech]]'' wargame, has a number of fairly formidable weapons, but the game's nod to this trope is the Sternsnacht handgun. The original is described as a hunting rifle cut down to operate as a pistol, but the knockoffs put out by the companies hoping to cash in on the popularity of the original are large, noisy, extremely heavy for a sidearm (2.5 kg!), have hideous recoil that translates into penalties against the to-hit number, and worst of all, only carry three shots. This makes it a hugely impractical weapon even in spite of the damage it deals.
* In ''[[Scion]]'', Eric Donner, Scion of Thor, (one of the "canned characters" in the gamebooks) has as his signature weapon an oversized revolver called "Giantkiller." In addition to being a huge gun with oversized ammo (which has to have custom-made), thanks to his divine parentage, [[Shock and Awe|it can shoot lightning]].
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Pretty much every revolver in ''[[Borderlands]]'' counts as this.
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20100616191201/http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?link=h3pistol M6 series of pistols] in ''[[Halo]]'' is chambered for 12.7x40mm (necked-down .50 BMG) high explosive armor piercing rounds. Seems like overkill at first, perhaps, but against the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Covenant]], it might just be justified.
* ''[[Killing Floor]]'' has Desert Eagles [[AKA-47|renamed]] "Hand Cannons".
* In the Telltale seasons, ''[[Sam and Max]]'' have a huge revolver and Luger, respectively. This is probably to compensate for the fact that they weren't allowed guns in the TV show and "left them at the cleaners" in ''Hit the Road''. Successfully complete the ''Hit the Road'' game however, and you get to watch Sam and Max amuse themselves by unloading on a carnival's BB gun shooting gallery with them.
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** And in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', not only do the Carnifex and Phalanx return, they're outdone by two new weapons. The Paladin is explicitly stated to be an ''even more powerful'' variant of the Carnifex, and the Talon is a shotgun revolver.
** Also making an appearance in 3 is the Scorpion. It's one of the heaviest pistols in the game and fires [[Sticky Bomb|Sticky Grenades]].
* ''[[Dead Space 2]]''{{'}}s reward for completing its hardest difficulty is a weapon known as the hand cannon, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|which is in actuality your character using a]] [[Finger Gun]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|inside of a foam finger and going "bang, bang" or "pew, pew" when you "fire."]] This causes the enemies to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|explode instantly.]]
* Nero of ''[[Devil May Cry|Devil May Cry 4]]'' has the Blue Rose, a customized Smith & Wesson Model 500 with barrels at the twelve and six o'clock positions of six-shot cylinder(normal M500s have five shots), which [[Hand Wave|somehow]] fires both at once with a single hammer. He can fire it one-handed, and it can later be upgraded to have a [[Charged Attack]] that fires delayed-detonation high-explosive rounds.
** On a similar note, Dante's signature pair of pistols LOOK like handcannons, but they're more like heavily customized Colt .45 M1911s. What gives them they're Handcannon status, however, is that the bullets fired by them are charged(and somehow reloaded) by Dante's power.
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** The 14mm pistol also counts. There's some [[All There in the Manual|background info]] that explains before the end of the world that it was a hunting pistol.
*** And both return in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' - the 14mm (now 12.7mm) pistol is a bona fide Hand Cannon, boasting the highest damage of all semi-auto handguns, but the .223 pistol, AKA "That Gun" is a unique revolver with no common counterpart, actuated components, and still chambered for .223 (or more accurately, the .223's military counterpart, the 5.56x45mm NATO). New Vegas also introduces the Hunting Revolver, an oversized big bore revolver that shoots .45-70 Gov't rifle rounds. It's the most damaging non-unique handgun in the entire game. Its (semi) unique counterpart, the Ranger Sequoia, does even more damage. Honest Hearts introduces [[Implacable Man|Joshua]] [[Badass Preacher|Graham's]] [[Ace Custom]] M1911, A Light Shining In Darkness. Despite being a small handgun that shoots quite fast, it is absolutely deadly, particularly the NPC version he uses.
* The character Max in ''[[Tales of Eternia]]'' enters your party with a gun the size of a toaster oven that he wields one-handed. To repeat: that is his ''starting weapon''. [[
* In Case 3 of ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney|Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]'', the victim is shot with a huge, 45-caliber revolver. The gun is described as being able to not only knock the target off their feet if hit with a shot from it, but capable of dislocating the shoulder of the shooter if they aren't used to firing such a powerful weapon. In appearance, it's described as "making normal revolvers look like water pistols", giving the impression that this is a huge (and very,
* For some reason, the most powerful and second-most accurate gun in ''[[Half Life|Half-Life 2]]'' is a .357 Magnum. [[Revolvers Are Just Better|And this is with the futuristic pulse rifles and sniper-crossbows]]. Balanced by the [[Law of Inverse Recoil|high recoil]], low rate of fire and small amount of ammunition Gordon can cary for it.
** One of the Expansion packs, ''Opposing Force'', gives the HECU marine protagonist the actual desert eagle.
* In ''[[Killer7]]'', the persona Dan Smith uses a Colt Python as his primary weapon. While this is large enough to qualify for this trope as is, he receives a mid-game upgrade: the Demon Gun, a double barreled, twelve-shell cylinder revolver, which appears to be larger than his head in several cut scenes. MASK goes one better by using a pair of cut-down grenade launchers.
* ''[[Duke Nukem
{{quote|'''Duke:''' [[Say Hello to My Little Friend|Say hello to my little friend...]]}}
* The ''[[Star Wars]]: Empire at War'' [[Expansion Pack]], ''Forces of Corruption'', features Tyber Zann, leader of the corrupt fraction, who has a handgun that can blow away a whole squad of infantry.
** Implied to be the blaster equivalent of a [[Sawed-Off Shotgun]].
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* The Sniper vs. Spy update for ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' brings us the Ambassador, an alternate revolver for the Spy which was initially touted as a Hand Cannon. In reality, though, the Ambassador is marginally weaker and slower than the standard revolver. Its true power comes from its near-perfect accuracy and ability to always crit with a headshot. In skilled hands, it lives up to the title of Hand Cannon; in unskilled hands, [[Revolvers Are Just Better|the standard revolver is just better.]]
* The guns in the ''[[Disgaea]]'' series are all above average as far as size goes, but it's taken to a ridiculous extreme in ''[[Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten]]'', where a giant monster unit can magichange into a handgun that's ''as big as the wielder''. Considering that the wielder can't even reach the trigger, it seems logical to assume that the monster turned weapon is capable of firing of its own accord.
* Any and all guns in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]''{{'}}s [[The Verse|Ivalice]], which more accurately resemble shotguns in size but are wielded and fired one-handed. Particularly noticeable in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]: [[Updated Rerelease|War of the Lions]]'', where [[Cameo|Balthier's]] Ras Algheti is the size of his torso.
** [[Infinity+1 Sword|Fomalhaut]]'s barrel in ''FFXII'' is roughly as thick as Vaan's arm.
** Interestingly, ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' has smaller guns, but also smaller wielders—they're used by a class only available to Moogles, the smallest playable species. ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]'' reintroduces hand cannons as a separate weapon type from the small guns, making them available both to Moogles and to [[Proud Warrior Race|Bangaa]].
* The Culverin weapon in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', which actually looks more like a modern-day shotgun ingame, is unique in that it does not accept regular ammunition of any sort, instead opting for ''cannon shells'' that are significantly less efficient inventory-wise.
* Vincent Valentine's Cerberus in ''[[
* In ''[[Endless Frontier|Super Robot Wars
* Noel Vermillion in ''[[
* The strongest handgun in ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]: The Game'' is a "magnum" that already rivals the shotgun for power at both their first levels. You can upgrade it. Have fun. The sequel takes it to ridiculous lengths: You start with .357, upgrade to .44, then hit .50 and a [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|real cash-purchased extra]] gives you '''.700'''.
* In ''[[Saints Row]]'', the in game version of the Desert Eagle is called the GDHC (God damn hand cannon).
* [[Word of God]] says that ''[[Persona 3]]'' villain Takaya's revolver is an S&W 500.
* How could we get this far and not mention the Chaos Dwarf Hand Cannon of ''[[
** The Hand Cannon is a literal example though, as it really is a cannon. That you can carry.
* A better question: How is there no mention of ''[[Dungeon Fighter Online]]''? The Launcher's preferred handgun of choice is two literal hand cannons! ''And'' they have a passive skill called "Hand Cannon Mastery," which increase the attack speed and damage of a hand cannon, which in turn fires by creating small, short-ranged explosions that can hit multiple enemies and ignores obstacles.
** Using them is literally the only way a launcher can use the skill Cannonball, which shoots an orb of energy.
*** Did I forget to mention that it even lowers the MP required to use the Launchers ''other''
* In ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'', one of Geno's final weapons is called the Hand Cannon. It's taken ''literally'', as it's fired by Geno swinging his arms down and firing gigantic shells from his arms.
* The Cougar Magnum in ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye]]'' (which can even shoot through walls), and its ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' counterpart, the DY 357. Both sound like cannons, too.
* Carnby's revolver in ''[[Alone in
* ''[[Soldier of Fortune]]'' has the Silver Talon .44, an [[AKA-47]] version of the Desert Eagle .44, that can blow a [[Mook]]'s [[Boom! Headshot!|head clean off]] [[Sniper Pistol|at ridiculously long range]]. And it's fired [[Firing One-Handed|with only one hand]].
* ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]'' has the ol' Desert Eagle as its strongest handgun, which [[One-Hit Kill|One Hit Kills]] most mooks.
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* ''[[The House Of The Dead Overkill]]'' has G and Washington using these as their default guns - they're AMS' standard firearm, apparently.
* ''7.62 High Calibre'' has several, including the .357 Colt Python, the Garza 12.7mm (.50 caliber) revolver, and the .44 [[Cool Guns|Desert Eagle]]. They tend to be significantly more powerful than any other handgun weapon, but severely hampered by lack of balance, slow firing, and small clip size. In most cases, a normal handgun (or small submachine gun) is more useful.
* ''[[Septerra Core]]''. Maya's gun.
* ''[[Battlefield Heroes]]'': The Royal army has Harry's Hand Cannon, which falls under the Pistol category.
* The antagonists of the ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' series seem to favour this kind of pistol; Imran Zakhaev in ''Call of Duty 4'' used a .50AE Desert Eagle, while General Shepherd in ''Modern Warfare 2'' had a .44 Colt Anaconda.
* All the handguns in the ''[[Syndicate]]'' remake, but especially the Bullhammer Mk II, a [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] firing .600. One upgrade option for that is the [[Magnetic Weapons|Magnetic Acceleration Rail]], which gives it an impact profile, to directly quote the fluff, "such that it's often mistaken for cannon or explosive blasts in police investigations."
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'': The Desert Eagle has appeared in the series since ''Vice City'' (albeit only cutscenes in that game only so far) and on, it is often regarded as being the most powerful hand gun in the series with great accuracy, making it one of the superior weapons.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' hung a [[Lampshade]] on this - Schlock hauls around BH-209 until the old one was destroyed and he couldn't get another as it was out of production, then got [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-06-25 BH-250] - ''[
** He often refuses an upgrade because the new weapon, despite being far more powerful, is smaller and lacks [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-03-15 the ominous hum and intimidating glow at the business end]. Schlock had to use a [[Guns Akimbo|pair]] of [
*** Ezraene Venombrook after personal observation [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-08-07 decides to unsubscribe] from wherever she have read a review proclaiming AP-130 "a toy giving creatures with small hands an illusion of true firepower".
** On the ballistic side, there's 15-mm [
* ''[[Chicanery]]'' character [[Trigger Happy|Mr. Saturn]] has a "Modified [[Trope Co|DeathCo]] Magnum", several times larger than the main characters and apparently a cross between a [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] and a [[Blame|GBE.]] Effects range from [[Your Head Asplode|blowing heads apart]] to [[Ludicrous Gibs|explosively atomising people]] and [[Overdrawn At the Blood Bank|coating the surrounding area in blood.]]
* ''[[Narbonic]]'' Antonio Smith the forensic linguist wields such a weapon.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* Sycine Kiongozi in ''[[Ilivais X]]'' carries a 15mm pistol. It's capable of shooting down [[Humongous Mecha|Espadas]], though granted, they're fairly inexpensively made and small. Still, that's more indicative of a mounted anti-materiel cannon and not a handgun.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6CXAaI1OAo Huge guns] by freddiew.
* They abound in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', from Loophole's .44 Magnum to the .50 caliber one-shot that Samantha Everheart used in "Ayla and the Birthday Brawl". Sam cut off the pistol grip so she could hide it under her bra inside her blouse. She could fire it accurately only because she has super-strength. Or there's the sixty pound anti-mutant weapon Captain Tilley wield in the same story.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Surely this exchange on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' is a potential trope namer:
{{quote|'''McBain''': "But Captain, I can't avenge my partner's death with this pea-shooter." He holds up a normal-sized pistol.
'''Captain''': "I don't wanna hear it, McBain. Tha-that cannon of yours is against regulation. In this department we go by the book." (The Captain holds up the book of regulations. McBain draws his "cannon", a revolver bigger than his head, and fires it at the book. The book promptly
'''McBain''': "Bye book!" }}
* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', Action Masters were Transformers who gave up the ability to transform in exchange for greater physical prowess and to be "more alive". Some felt the need to compensate further; Kick-Off, for instance, has a handgun with a barrel as long as his arm and as wide as his fist. Several others, like Krok, Rad, and Banzai-Tron, had partners who transformed into extensions of their guns, increasing their size and power dramatically. Kick-Off's own weapon can be enhanced by transforming his ''jetpack'' and attaching it, making it roughly the size of his entire body but still held in one hand. Meanwhile, Overrun normally pilots a helicopter, but it apt to tear off its primary weapon (which is freaking huge relative to his body; this is a very small helicopter, of course) and use it on foot.
* [[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|Kaptain Skurvy's]] weapon of choice is a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|literal hand cannon]], a miniaturized cannon he holds in one hand.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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** Even later when they used matchlocks (1600s or so) most weapons were at least .50 cal, often closer to .75 cal, since modern round sizes fired with black powder wouldn't go through armor.
* Later, there was the "howdah pistol", a double-rifle elephant gun with the barrel and stock reduced in size to make it holdable, if not sensibly fireable, in one hand. It was said that the sensible way to employ one, should a tiger leap up your elephant toward the howdah in which you were standing, was to hand the giant double-barreled pistol to the tiger and allow him to fire it.
* Magnum Research, designers of the infamous Desert Eagle, also manufacture the "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110309193617/http://www.magnumresearch.com/BFR.asp BFR]." They claim this stands for "Biggest, Finest Revolver," [[
* The [[wikipedia:Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express revolver|Pfeifer Zeliska]] revolver: a
* There's also a .700 Nitro Express round, currently languishing unloved; it's only a matter of time before a handgun is designed around it.
* The Maadi-Griffin .50 pistol and the Thunder .50 pistol: handguns designed to use the .50 BMG cartridge, one of the most powerful ''rifle'' cartridges in current use. For comparison, the muzzle energy of the .50 BMG round is typically around ten times that of the NATO 5.56mm round used in most modern assault rifles. They are single-shot, but the main practical purpose, apparently, is demonstration of
* Olympic Arms marketed a "pistol" that could fire NATO standard 5.56mm rounds; it bore a passing resemblance to the Mauser C96 and was basically an M16 receiver wedded to a short barrel and a pistol grip. In any realistic sense it was a carbine, however, since it fired a rifle round.
** Kel-Tec also makes a 5.56mm/.223 pistol called the PLR-16, which accepts M16 magazines, although it isn't designed around the AR-15, but rather Kel-Tec's own SU-16 rifle.
* The [[Nerf Brand]] [[Revolvers Are Just Better|Maverick]] chambers darts only slightly longer than the usual ammunition, but the gun itself is big enough to make Dirty Harry blush. That said, even standard Nerf darts are bigger than much pistol bullets.
* The Thompson/Center Contender can fire shotgun shells or various full-power rifle rounds. In fact it's so much like a rifle that when outfitted with the optional stock and longer barrels that T/C sells it basically ''is'' a rifle.
* During an episode of his series ''[[Lock and Load]]'', R. Lee Ermey showed why standard shooting positions are standard. While test firing a .44 Magnum, he was nearly knocked to he floor by the recoil. He then was shown saying he didn't want to shoot it again. This being the same person who had picked up and fired a crew
* The current record-holder (according to the manufacturer) for most powerful ''production'' (see the Pfeifer Zeliska, above) hand-cannon is the Smith & Wesson Model 500, a 5-shot revolver with an 8-3/8" barrel (15 inches long in total) that weighs six pounds ''empty''. In a demonstration on Spike TV's ''[[Manswers]]'', the .357 Magnum blew a chunk out of a watermelon; the .44 Magnum took off the lower three-quarters; and the Model 500 ''exploded'' it. Due to a compensator on the barrel, however, its recoil is actually less than the .44 Magnum - though that's not saying much.
** For the purpose of illustrating scale, [http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/userpix/8724_DSCF3008_1.jpg here's a picture of one with a 20 dollar bill]{{Dead link}}.
* The four-pound Colt Walker and Dragoon models were outrageously oversized to their smaller cousins brought into production a few years later.
** The popular story is that the Colt Walker and the later Dragoon were designed so that once ammo had been spent, the gun would still be useful to [[Pistol-Whipping|club people and horses]] while wielded one-handed (the other hand on your horse reins.
* The Le Mat Revolver, in addition to a nine-chambered cylinder and a regular barrel, has a central shotgun barrel, fired by a special pivoting striker, hence the name "Grapeshot Revolver". The largest ammunition it can use is .44 and one 16ga round. As you can imagine, this is a ''very'' big pistol.
* Any [[LEGO]] handgun. The revolver, which is the smallest, is the size of a minifig's arm.
* The [[Sawn Off Shotgun|sawn-off]] ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNFsUvh078I Mosin-Nagant]''. As in, a ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122422/http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl03-e.htm powerful 7,62x54mm rifle]'' cut down to pistol size.
* This [https://web.archive.org/web/20120126080110/http://www.derringer.de/new68.htm 20mm (.79 caliber) Derringer]. And a 30mm derringer is in planning according to the site. Since 20mm is considered to be the point where you start calling it an "autocannon" rather than a "machine gun", those literally ''are'' "hand cannons".
* The Taurus Judge, a 5-shot .45 Colt revolver that
** A later variant is the larger and longer Taurus Raging Judge, which can load the more powerful.454 Casull rounds as well as the .45 Colt and .410.
** Smith & Wesson responded by making the Governor a ''6''-shot revolver that took .45 Colt and .410 shells like the Judge but also (via use of moon clip) .45 ACP, and wasn't made by Taurus (Taurus has a well deserved reputation for poor build quality).
* There are a few images of a sawn-off ''M1 Garand'' floating around the internet.
* Legally in the US if a firearm is rifled and has no shoulder stock and only one vertical grip it is a pistol.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]
[[Category:Bigger Is Better]]
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[[Category:Power]]
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