History Main / Handguns

* Dante of the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series goes GunsAkimbo with two customized handguns as his signature firearms. Admittedly, he does gain better firepower, including but not limited to shotguns, a grenade launcher and a sniper rifle. Nevertheless, his pistols remain useful even in the endgame.
** In the later games, anyhow. In the first game the hand guns were useless after you got your shotgun because they were too weak to be of any use and the shotgun was fast enough to keep enemies at bay. The grenade launcher was even better. It helps that Dante [[BottomlessMagazines never has to reload]] and can shoot so fast he can keep enemies floating on a cloud of hot lead, or [[RecoilBoost keep himself in the air for a few extra seconds]].

* Most of the ''VideoGame/Killer7'' are armed with handguns of various kinds. The exceptions are MASK with [[GunsAkimbo twin]] [[{{BFG}} grenade launchers]], Kevin's [[KnifeNut throwing knives]], and [[spoiler: Harman]]'s high-powered rifle.

* Very often played straight in video games, where, perhaps for game balance, pistols will be more accurate and more powerful than assault rifles, perhaps owing from the delusion that the volume of fire achieved by assault rifles and machine guns [[ArbitraryGunPower must mean that each of those bullets is weaker]]. Or perhaps it's the other way around. This is less so in "tactical shooters", where handguns tend to be more defensive/backup weapons; for example, drawing your pistol in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4'' (and later shooters inspired by it) is faster than reloading a primary weapon, but (except for TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture settings like ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Future Soldier'') you get only the iron sights for aiming. Even then it's still typically played straight in regard to power though (for example, in ''Call of Duty 4'', the 9mm M9 handgun with a five-inch barrel gets better damage stats in extreme close range and equivalent ones at long range as the 5.56x45mm [=M4A1=], a carbine with a ''14.5''-inch barrel).
* Quite a lot of video games seem to have the weird idea that the handgun is a starter weapon from which the player will upgrade to rifles - the rifle requiring more skill to use. Predictably the reverse is true - handguns require far more proficiency to use than almost any long arm.
** Could be potentially justified in scenarios where the PlayerCharacter is caught unprepared and is thusly unarmed until an ally comes along and lends the PC their sidearm, keeping the long gun for themselves.
* Many {{Light Gun Game}}s have your character start with, and mainly use, a pistol. This does make sense for the police-oriented ones like ''VideoGame/VirtuaCop'' or ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers''.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/FateZero'', where the protagonist Kiritsugu Emiya and his assistant use Assault Rifles, compact Sniper Rifles, Submachine Guns and High-explosives to get the job done. In the one part where he uses a handgun, he uses a Thompson Contender, a handgun designed to fire rifle bullets that are about 3-4 times more powerful than even the .50 Action Express used by the Desert Eagle.

** Barney's [=1911s=] are actually from Kimber, not Colt. Though popular culture thinks of the 1911 as the "Colt .45," which can also refer to four other pistols they have made, most 1911 pistols in the world today were ''not'' made by Colt (although they have made ''a lot'' of them and continue to do so today). Wartime GI production also included Ithaca, Remington, Remington-Rand (a typewriter manufacturer), Singer Sewing Machines, and Union Switch & Signal (who normally made train parts). Today, most of the firearm manufacturers out there have some kind of 1911 rolling off one of their assembly lines, including (but not limited to) Colt (USA), Kimber (USA), Smith & Wesson (USA), Springfield Armory (USA/Brazil), Remington (USA), Ruger (USA), SIG Sauer (USA/Germany), Para Ordnance (Canada), Chiappa (Italy), Armscor (Philippines), and Norinco (China). Lots of small, high-end gunsmiths are dedicated to turning out custom 1911s that are pretty much the Maserati of pistols.

* ''Film/OneBR'': When [[TheProtagonist Sarah]] begs for the torture she's being put through to end, [[spoiler:Jack]] pulls out a handgun.

* ''Literature/CampX'': When they're out on the highway in [[spoiler:Mr. Krum's car, Mr. Krum pulls a gun out os his pocket and points it at George and Jack]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Diacrisis}}'' [[PlayerCharacter Matthew Diacrisis]] starts out the game with a simple handgun. It can put a zombie down in about 1-2 shots.

* ''Film/{{Clownface}}'': Owen has a handgun [[spoiler:that he intends to use to kill Clownface. When he shoots Clownface with it though, Clownface survives it]].

* The core five characters of Franchise/LupinIII have a specific handgun as their WeaponOfChoice, sans [[{{Ronin Goemon]] who feels that KatanasAreJustBetter.

** ClassyCatBurglar Fujiko uses silver FN Model 1910 in her various crimes.

** His partner [[TheLancer Jigen]] uses a .357 Magnum. It's the title of his ADayInTheLimelight [[LupinIIIS4E2 episode]] in Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine.