Hand Cannon: Difference between revisions

** 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.

* 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]]'' 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.

* Leslie Nielsen briefly wields a ridiculously over-sized Magnum at the end of, ''[[Two Thousand And One A Space Travesty|2001: A Space Travesty]]''.

* 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.

* ''[[Judge Dredd (film)|Judge Dredd]]''. The Lawgiver II pistol used by Judges, which is also able to switch ammo types by voice command.

 

== [[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.

* [[Firefly|Jayne]] might be better known for his [[I Call It Vera|most favorite gun]], but his one-handed death-dealing implements are not lacking either. (Nor is [[Wall of Weapons|the ''quantity'' lacking]].) In fact, the main sidearm that Jayne uses is a LeMat, a Civil War era revolver with 9 chambers, as well as a second barrel that can shoot buckshot. That's right, a revolver AND a shotgun.

** Zoe's main sidearm is a "Mare's Leg," a cut-down Winchester 1892 carbine worn in a hip-holster.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** [[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.

* Vincent Valentine's Cerberus in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: [[Dirge of Cerberus]]'' is a gigantic, aggressively ridiculously designed revolver with three cylinders, three hammers linked to one trigger and three barrels. Even with the normal barrel the weapon is the size of his own leg, and it can be fitted with an even sillier three-foot "sniper" barrel. His [[Infinity+1 Sword|InfinityPlusOneGun]] is the Death Penalty. In his earlier appearance in ''Final Fantasy VII'', it looked like [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/3/3b/FF7_Death_penalty.jpg this], which is not quite a Hand Cannon. Come ''Dirge of Cerberus'', and it looks like [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/b/bf/DoC_Death_Penalty_Artwork.png this].

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]] OG Saga: [[Endless Frontier]]'', [[The Gunslinger]] Haken Browning's backup weapon is the Longtomb Special: a three-foot long [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] that he fires [[Firing One-Handed|one-handed]], [[I Am Not Left-Handed|left-handed]], from the hip, with the right hand pulling the hammer. He will also sometimes fire Dual-Wield it along with his Assault rifle, which is natually also fired one-handed. In his [[Limit Break]], he uses the "Klondike Mode", turning it into a [[Wave Motion Gun]] with a lot of recoil.

* 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.

** 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.

* 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.

* ''[[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.

* The Taurus Judge, a 5-shot .45 Colt revolver that just happens to have a cylinder long enough to let it fire .410-gauge shotgun shells.

** 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.

* 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.