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    Makarov pistol 
The primary automatic pistol of the Soviet military and other Warsaw Pact forces. The gun itself is extremely lightweight, and the ammo, while medium in caliber, is more than powerful enough in practice.

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After World War II, working from German experiments in improving the 9x17mm cartridge, Soviet engineers created the Pistolet Makarova (Makarov's Pistol) semi-automatic pistol. Based on the Walther "Ultra" wartime design, which was itself based on the above Walther PP, it used a 9x18mm cartridge and bullet that was not interchangeable with Western 9x17mm or 9x19mm ammunitionnote  and was roughly within the same power class as the .38 Special revolver round. It replaced the Tokarev TT-33 (and, by extension, the Nagant 1895 revolver the Tokarev failed to completely replace) for military use in the Soviet Union in 1951, and is still in limited use in Russianote , where it enjoys an iconic status not unlike that of the 1911 in America, as well as several other former Soviet republics, North Korea, and Vietnam.

Many other Warsaw Pact nations at the same time also adopted 9x18mm PP-derived blowback pistols.note  With the fall of communism, all of these variants have entered Western firearms markets; East German and Soviet Makarovs, coming from no-longer-existing countries, are considered "Curio and Relic" designs in the US, bypassing many licensing requirements for sellers. Due to being the standard Soviet pistol of the Cold War, it's widely seen as a "bad guy" gun in spy and war movies.

  • Punisher villain General Nikolai Alexandrovich Zakharov wields one as his standard sidearm. Appropriate, considering that he is more or less a walking throw back to Cold War era bad guys.
  • The opening credits of Octopussy.
  • The Hunt for Red October in the hands of Tomas Arana playing the part of Igor Loginov.
  • Pierce Brosnan uses one as a KGB agent in The Fourth Protocol, even though considering the undercover nature of his work he probably shouldn't be.
  • Appears in many places in GoldenEye, particularly used by General Ourumov, with Bond also giving Natalya one to defend herself.
  • Simon Gruber has one in Die Hard with a Vengeance.
  • Used in Афганский Излом (Afganskij Izlom; trans: Afghan Breakdown).
  • Pierce Brosnan uses the Makarov again in Tomorrow Never Dies.
  • Used briefly against James Bond in The World Is Not Enough; he eventually commandeers one and uses it Guns Akimbo with his P99 for a short while.
  • Appears in Die Another Day, making it a weapon that not only appears in every single Bond film starring Pierce Brosnan, but is also used by Bond in every film from that era.
  • A random soldier has one in Lord of War.
  • Shows up in The Hangover Part Two of all places.
  • Used by multiple characters in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.
  • Appears in the hands of Jack McClane in Die Hard.
  • Used by many characters in 9 Рота (9 Rota, The 9th Company).
  • Used by both Chechens and Russians in Марш Бросок (Marsh Brosok).
  • Makes repeat appearances in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
  • Jack Bauer uses one in 24.
  • Various characters use the Makarov in Грозовые Ворота (Grozovye Vorota, trans: [The?] Storm Gate).
  • Used prominently in the Спецназ (Spetsnaz) TV Series.
  • Black Lagoon naturally had to feature it at some point. A 9x18 handgun becomes Yukio's weapon of choice, and is definitely a favourite of Hotel Moscow.
  • Used by guards in a few of the early Splinter Cell games. Fisher can finally get his hands on one in Blacklist.
  • Appears without fail in every installment of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, where it's the most basic and common handgun, but also the least effective and accurate. The player character of Call of Pripyat even starts with a extra-durable one that he was given for his military service.
  • Appears in 7.62 High Caliber, given that the game is made of epic Gun Porn. It's the absolute worst gun in the game, with the only weapon weaker than it being a permanently silenced stealth pistol. Unless you're extremely hard up for cash (or someone desperately needs a sidearm and you happen to pick one up off a corpse), it's Better Off Sold. However, it does play a vital role in one mission: the rebel leader demands that you execute a prisoner to prove your loyalty, and she hands you a Makarov to do it. There's some blood packs and 9x18mm blanks around the camp, which you can use to fake the assassination and let the captured officer escape.
  • Both the standard Makarov and an integrally-silenced variant, the Makarov PB (going by its GRAU index of 6P9) appear in Far Cry 2; the latter is also available in Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 with the suppressor optional. In 2 and 3 it is very good for early-game stealth tactics, being available from nearly the beginning in 2 and unlocked for free as part of the tutorial in 3, and both versions in 2 also enjoy being the most accurate pistols in the game (versus the Desert Eagle emphasizing power and the Star Model P durability). Conversely, 4 locks it away until you do the "Sermon on the Mount" mission for Longinus, which isn't available until after the first mission of the second act, meaning the player is very likely to have unlocked a suppressed Signature weapon that completely outclasses it by then.
  • Shows up in Call of Duty: Black Ops as a relatively common sidearm; a few officers across the campaign can be seen wielding two at once against you, which the player can also do in multiplayer. Also used for a particularly dramatic scene near the end of the game:
    MY NAME! IS VIKTOR! REZNOV! AND I WILL HAVE! MY! REVENGE!
  • Used by the Triads in Lethal Weapon 4.
  • Featured in a scene in Hitman where arms dealer Belicoff shows off a Makarov stated to fire .22LR cartridges. Whether this is a genuine .22 conversion of the pistol or if Belicoff was just mistaken isn't made clear; there actually are .22 conversions for the Makarov, and the prop he uses does seem to have a barrel with a thinner diameter, though actual .22 Makarov conversions have a different slide with indents along the line of the barrel that isn't present on his weapon — and it would be far from the only (or even worst) mistake he makes when talking about the weapons he's selling, as 47 points out shortly before killing him and all of his buyers.
  • Appears in Metal Gear starting from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, where it's carried by Gurlukovich's mercenaries, the Colonel in particularly using one to threaten the Marine commandant at the end of the Tanker chapter. Ocelot carries one in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, where it jams on him and he switches to the Colt Single Action Army, and it's also the sidearm of the standard guards if they run out of ammo for their AKs. The improved PMM appears in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where it seems to be the sidearm of Act 3's Paradise Lost Army (since the guy you tail for the first half will pull one on you if you alert him, and others can be seen holding it in a cutscene or two), and Snake can finally get his hands on one. The original, as well as its integrally-suppressed 6P9 PB variant, can be researched in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. It shows up again in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as the "Burkov", and can be upgraded to shoot tranquillizer rounds.
  • In Insurgency, the Makarov PM is an Insurgent-centric pistol but available for use by both sides. Notably, it costs no supply points and is also the lightest sidearm available.
  • Uncharted: Drake's Fortune features the Makarov as Drake's starting weapon and the "low tier" pistol: it's slow, doesn't do much damage, and has a small magazine. It's replaced by Beretta 92s halfway through the game. Later games in the series use a compact .45 instead.
  • Michael Westen got his girlfriend Fiona a Makarov for her birthday in a season one episode of Burn Notice.
  • The Makarov PM (or rather, the MPM) is Claire's basic pistol in her story side of Resident Evil: Revelations 2, found beside a dead guard. It shows up again in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard under the same name as the third and final pistol found in the game (it sits between the other two handguns power-wise, but is the only pistol that Mia can use when you play as her).
  • The original model Makarov, misidentified as the improved PMM, is available in Rainbow Six Siege to Spetsnaz operators and Recruits, as a lower-capacity option to the GSh-18. Presumably due to having less than half the magazine capacity, the PM is noticeably more powerful than the GSh, more like a typical video-game comparison between a .45 and a 9mm rather than between the comparable 9mm Makarov and 9mm NATO.
  • A common sidearm among the Russian forces in the ARMA series, the first two featuring both the regular PM as a standard sidearm and the integrally-suppressed PB for spec ops. The updated PMM returns for the third game with the Apex DLC as the sidearm of the Syndikat crime group, converted to 9x21mm like all the other "light" pistols in the game and loading from 10-round magazines.
  • Shows up in Unturned as the Kryzkarek. It holds 12 rounds in the magazine, is extremely durable (one of the most durable firearms in the game, in fact), and it's technically a Ranger weapon, so unlike most other pistols it can accept a dedicated suppressor that's more durable than the makeshift muffler.
  • Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami feature it as the "9mm Automatic Pistol". The model is somewhat modified, fitted with a slightly longer barrel and a ring hammer.
  • Available for the NVA and Viet Cong as an alternative sidearm in Rising Storm 2: Vietnam.
  • Appears as a 3-star handgun in Girls' Frontline, first as a member of the Russian team in chapter 3, later as a member of Palette Team under RO635.
  • In Weathering With You, Hodaka finds an illegal Makarov that has been dumped by some criminal, which becomes a literal Chekhov's Gun for the movie.

    Mauser C96 
"Ahh... a choice of an avid gun collector. It's a nice gun, Stranger."
The Merchant, Resident Evil 4

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First introduced in 1896, the Mauser C96 was the first commercially successful automatic pistol, with unauthorised copies still being made to this day. It had many nicknames, including "broomhandle" (due to the shape of the grip) and "box cannon" (in China, due to the square integral magazine and fact that it could be holstered inside its own stock). The C96 was vastly popular in the first half of the 20th century, seeing some its earliest use in the Boer War. When he was captured by the Boers, Winston Churchill armed himself with one when he escaped. In World War One, the C96 supplemented the Luger as the main sidearm of Imperial Germany, and it was popular with Ottoman officers too. When the Russian Civil War broke out, large numbers were sold to both the White and Red armies-the M1921 variant's association with the latter gave it its famous "Bolo" nickname. Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I carried a C96 as his personal sidearm. During the Spanish Civil War, Spanish company Astra made semi-auto and full-auto copies as the Astra 900 for both sides. It was also quite popular with the IRA during The Irish Revolution. However, Nationalist China was the only nation to officially adopt the C96 as a service pistol from 1911 to the 1950s, with the Chinese Communists and warlords using the pistol in vast numbers.

The original C96 was chambered in 7.63x25mm, which, at its time of introduction, had the highest muzzle velocity of any commercial pistol cartridge until the introduction of the .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935. 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. Other calibers included 9x19mm, 9x25mm Mauser, 7.65x21mm Parabellum, and .45 ACP, depending on the operator and country of manufacture. The C96 is most notable for its detachable wooden shoulder stock which doubled as a holster (a feature copied by many later machine pistols, and briefly remained in fashion even for semi-automatics); 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 calibrated for ranges out to one kilometre.

In its over half a century of service, the C96 was manufactured in many different variants. Notable ones include the select-fire M712 Schnellfeur and the 9x19mm "Red 9" (named for the large red number 9 burned into the grip to warn anyone against trying to load it with the original 7.63x25mm bullets). After the defeat of Germany, Mauser introduced the M1921 model that featured a shortened barrel, nicknamed the "Bolo" after its use by the Russian Bolshevik government. As China was the only country to adopt the C96 as its official service weapon, Chinese copies are extremely common, some dating to the 20s and 30s and some being rather more recent (using 20s machinery that had somehow avoided being melted down) for export sale. One famous Chinese version was an enlarged .45 ACP model by the Shanxi Arsenal, for warlord Yan Xishan (who wanted his "security forces" to have a C96 chambered in the same round as their Thompson submachine guns). The Shanxi Type-17 is now considered to be one of the finest copies of the C96, despite its problems (see below). Modified copies were also made in Spain, such as the Astra 900 series, which included both semi-auto and full-auto versions. These are now considerably less common than the German and Chinese Broomhandles. A Brazilian variant, the PASAM, was issued to military police and eventually given a frame extension with a pistol-style fore-grip to control muzzle rise. It is discussed here.

The C96's distinctive boxy shape and international popularity had gave it an iconic status in many countries, especially China. In China, it enjoys an incredible iconic status comparable to the American Single Action Army or M1911 due to its long history of usage. It is guaranteed to show up in any show set during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1920s-30s China, the Chinese Civil War or the Xinhai Revolution. The C96 is also popular in Russia, where it is strongly associated with the Russian Civil War and is an integral part of the image of a Civil War-era fighter/revolutionary/warlord/bandit.


  • Cool Accessory: As mentioned, its detachable wooden stock/holster. 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.
    • The Chinese had devised a cool action of their own with their copied C96s: while the original C96 was notorious for their constant recoil-induced jumps during automatic fire (thus the resulting lack of accuracy and impracticality), the .45-caliber Type-17 was even more problematic as .45 ACP, despite being significantly more powerful, develops less operating pressure in the chamber than 9mm or 7.63mm Mauser. Since the ejection port is located on top of the weapon, Shanxi Type-17 pistols therefore couldn't reliably eject spent cases because the .45 ACP wouldn't cycle the bolt hard enough to overcome gravity. Chinese users adapted by holding the gun sideways, allowing spent brass to fall out, while recoil naturally pushed the barrel sideways towards the next target. "Chinese bandit shooting" was utterly devastating in close quarters (and worked with C96s in any caliber, but especially with a full-auto M712 Schnellfeuer conversion or its Spanish copy). While it was still useless beyond 10 yards, this technique was very handy for a country where industrial resources and foundation were severely lacking at the beginning of the 20th Century, to say the least; as very few in China at the time could afford, let alone copy and manufacture submachine guns, a full-auto C96 became many a warlord soldier's sole option for a rapid-firing small arm, sometimes combined with a Dadao sword.
  • Mel Gibson has one (among many other weapons) in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Bubba Zanetti carried one in the first film as well.
  • In Kerberos Saga, C96 is the standard issue sidearm of the Kerberos unit and is featured in nearly every installment of the franchise.
    • The M712 Schnellfeuer variant is used by Bunmei Muroto and Washio Midori in The Red Spectacles
    • Midori is once again seen with C96 in Kerberos Panzer Cop and this time she gets the chance to show just how skilled she is at using it.
    • Inui is able to acquire one after being released from prison in StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops and uses it throughout the movie. One can also be briefly seen wielded by one of the Kerberos members at the start of the 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 beyond threatening Yoda when he first shows himself and carrying it through Cloud City before his lightsaber duel with Darth Vader.
  • The eponymous Humongous Mecha from Deus Machina Demonbane uses a seriously-upscaled C96.
  • Elliott Gould wields one Guns Akimbo with a P38 in the World War II action movie Escape to Athena. Telly Savalas's Greek resistance leader character strongly cautions him to fire in short bursts to avoid overheating.
  • EVA in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and 4 has one of these as her weapons, 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, foreshadowing the fact that she's actually a Chinese agent. It's also available to the player in Metal Gear Solid 4, where it has the full-auto capability of the M712; it's one of the few weapons that the player cannot reload until it is emptied.
  • An archaeologist shoots at Sufficiently Advanced Aliens with a full-auto version in the opening scene of The Fifth Element. Its appearance is anachronistic; while the base C96 would have been correct (the prologue takes place before World War I), the Schnellfeur version wasn't produced until 1932.
  • Murderface's "driving gun" in Metalocalypse.
  • The Red 9 version with optional stock is featured in Resident Evil 4, where it is among the best of the 9mm handguns, dealing the highest damage and being the most accurate, but also (with the stock) taking up the most inventory space. Without the stock, the recoil is extreme and can be slow to control for a follow up shot.
  • 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 Type 17 (firing .45 ACP rounds) as a base, with the box-magazine loading mechanism of the 'Schnellfeuer' model instead of the stripper clip-loaded internal magazine. This is his primary firearm for much of the comic.
  • Used by the character Silence in the Spaghetti Western The Great Silence.
  • This is one of the modern weapons available in Red Dead Redemption. The version used in the game is fully automatic, even though the full-auto variant was not in production in the year the game takes place.
    • The prequel, on the other hand, uses the correct base version. It only becomes available to purchase at the beginning of Chapter 6, but the player can get it much earlier by accepting the "The Noblest of Men, and a Woman" sidequest and defeating Billy Midnight in a duel. Alternatively, one could also find it earlier by getting lucky with dropped weapons or stealing it in a certain Chapter 4 mission.
  • 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 barrels.
  • Three Days of the Condor. Professional Killer Joubert aims a scoped, silenced and stocked Mauser at the protagonist, but can't get a clear shot.
  • Appears in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!, of all things, where it is mounted on Rikka's wall. She refers to it as a "holy gun". Then again, this is someone who uses an umbrella as a spear and a shield.
  • 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 carries a Mauser for people he wanted to kill who he felt were unworthy 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,note  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:
    • Appears in Fallout and Fallout 2 in its 9mm form. In the first game, it is only carried by the Junktown mobster Gizmo, in the second, it can be found on respawnable enemies but it along with its ammo is still quite rare.
    • Fallout 3 features the Mauser as the Chinese Pistol — based on the Chinese Shanxi Type 17 clone, although chambered in 10mm caliber.
  • Wild Dog's handgun of choice is a C96 Mauser, or a pistol heavily inspired by it, in Time Crisis. In the sequels, it supplements various types of Arm Cannon.
  • From Russia with Love. Red Grant uses one to shoot a man about to backstab James Bond during the gypsy camp fight.
  • In the comic book series, The Rocketeer, and in the Disney Film of the same name as well, the C96 is The Rocketeer's weapon of choice.
  • Shows up in BioShock Infinite under the title "Broadsider." It has low damage at the beginning, but shoots incredibly fast and has a ridiculously high critical damage multiplier.
  • Appears in Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land and can be wielded by Captain Hill.
  • Michael Collins. Used to assassinate the head of the Cairo Gang, and wielded by Collins himself at the beginning of the film.
  • The famous "Curtains Down" opera mission in Hitman: Blood Money has the protagonist of the theatre's production of Tosca executed by means of a prop Mauser. One of 47's options to assassinate the actor playing Cavaradossi is by swapping the prop gun out for the real thing.
  • A couple variants of this gun appear in Parasite Eve, specifically the M96, the M96R, and the M712 "Schnellfeurer." These guns are all found randomly in the Chrysler Building.
  • Turns up in PAYDAY 2 with the "Gage Historical Pack" DLC, as the Broomstick. True to form, the manufacturer's name is an obvious play on the original. Depending on mods, it can also become a Mauser C96 Carbine, Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer (sans the selective fire), Mauser M712 Carbine (again, without the selective fire), or even Han Solo's DL-44 blaster, though sadly minus the ability to shoot blaster bolts.
  • Payday's WWII-themed cousin, RAID: World War II, also features it as the standard sidearm for all four classes, this time under its proper name. Upgrades available for it include the Carbine's stock and the detachable magazines of the M712, as well as a slightly-lengthened barrel with cooling fins over part of it.
  • A hybrid of the original C96 and the M712 (fitted with detachable magazines and the fire selector, but the body of the gun doesn't have the widened magazine well to fit those detachable magazines) shows up in Far Cry 4 as both a regular "M-712", with a reduced 8-round magazine and only one option for customization, and the Signature "HS77", which on top of a slightly-higher 10-round capacity, mounts a tube reflex sight and a suppressor to make it resemble Han Solo's DL-44 blaster from Star Wars (also includes an obligatory reference to Han shooting first in its store description).
  • This pistol could be found as a secret in "Operation Varsity" and only select-able in the last level in Medal of Honor: Airborne. The upgrades you can get would be the Broomhandle stock (reducing recoil), a 20-round magazine (increased capacity) and a 712 Conversion Kit (which changes the pistol to the full-auto M712 Schnellfeuer variant.) It is shown to be weaker than the Colt 1911, but with almost triple the capacity and capable of full-auto fire once fully upgraded.
  • The 9mm version appears in the Nazi chapters of BloodRayne.
  • A Mauser C96-wielding killer is one of the antagonists in Cape Town.
  • Shows up in Battlefield 1 as one of the sidearms available to the Medic class, while the carbine variant is available to pilots and tank crews.
  • Gunpei, the Japanese fighter pilot from the prologue to Kong: Skull Island, briefly wields a C96 as his sidearm when he crash-lands on Skull Island in 1944, instead of the standard-issue Nambu Type 14.
  • Available in Day of Infamy in two forms, the standard C96 as a sidearm for the German officer and flamethrower, and a fictional carbine version of the full-auto M712 as a primary weapon for the assault class as an alternative to the MP 40.
  • Slightly anachronistically (the show ends in 1892), the preferred weapon of Sir Malcolm Murray in Penny Dreadful.
  • Wolfgang Schreiber from Dies Irae wields one of these alongside a Luger P08. And thanks to his magic, both have infinite ammo and abnormal rates of fire.
  • Available as one of two sidearms for the Wehrmacht in Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. Upgrades for the weapon are a 20-round box magazine and a select fire option, turning it into an automatic carbine.
  • In the John Wayne Brannigan (1975), a hitman tries to kill Brannigan's female partner in a drive-by shooting with one.
  • The Mauser is Katze's weapon of choice in Bushido Blade, yet he reloads the gun every six shots like a revolver. Despite that, he's a Game-Breaker when you unlock him since the game is based around melee combat and bringing a gun to a swordfight is as unfair as it sounds.
  • Appears as a 3-star handgun in Girls' Frontline. Widely regarded as one of the most useless units in the game, as her Flare skill is bugged to be completely ineffective. Her MOD 3 upgrade unfortunately does not save her from being instantly scrapped by many Commanders, but it does give her access to the famous gunstock as an exclusive equipment. Apparently, she uses the hollow cavity to store snacks instead as a holster.
  • Albert Einstein: Time Mason: Albert appears to have a Mauser C96 as his preferred weapon. Likely justified, as Albert's from The '30s.
  • Racer X uses the C96 as his personal sidearm in Speed Racer.
  • Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). A silenced Mauser is used by the leader of the Street Thunder gang to murder the ice cream truck driver and a little girl. They're shown to have several of them, which are an odd choice of weapon for a Los Angeles street gang.
  • The villainous Commander Lim in Operation Chromite uses a C96 as his main weapon.

    Muzzleloading pistols 
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The Hand Cannon. Many of these muzzle-loaded pistols were essentially small-scale models of their musket counterparts back in the pre-Modern era. Since industrialization had yet to arrive, there was no standard blueprint for exactly how one should be built, leading to a lot of variety depending on the skill of the gunsmith and request of his customer. They had various methods of setting off the gunpowder poured in to launch the ball ammunition. Matchlock carbines had a short burning fuse that would physically be touched to the powder to ignite it. These were followed by wheellocks, which use friction from a wound clock spring to create a small burst of sparks to do the same (no small feat given the mechanical technology of the era). Next were flintlocks, which utilize a piece of flint on a falling hinge to cause the spark, and are the most common variety throughout history and in fiction. And finally, the caplock, which uses a small percussion cap filled with a tiny bit of impact-sensitive explosive to set off the charge when struck.
These kinds of pistols were popular for formal duels during the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century. The stereotypical scenario with each opponent taking ten steps before pulling out their pistols to shoot will probably involve one of these. Use for hunting by nobles and the aristocracy were also common, and many surviving examples can have truly ludicrous amounts of engraving and embellishment on them, making them more works of art than weapons.
Most models had single barrel, but they also came in multiple barrel variants, allowing the user to fire several times before having to stop for the messy and time-consuming process of reloading. The most famous variant of a multi-barreled pistol was the Pepper-box, which could be considered the grandfather of all modern revolvers before the arrival of the famous Colt Patterson.
Naturally, these kinds of pistols fell out of favor by the mid-19th century with the rise of revolvers and metallic cartridges. Whoever still uses this kind of gun in the modern era is either portrayed as a serious collector of firearms, a Man of Wealth and Taste or someone who's poor, desperate and really needs some kind of firearm.
  • Quite a common sight in many films and games before the Civil War era, particularly during The Golden Age of Piracy.
  • Mike Harrigan was given a flintlock pistol by one of the Predators at the end of Predator 2 for winning an honourable match. Engraved on it was "Raphael Adolini 1715". A later comic book have elaborated that it belonged to a pirate captain who gave it to the same Predator for helping him deal with a mutinous crew before dying.
  • Silva owns a pair of flintlock pistols in Skyfall, and has Bond compete in a challenge to shoot a glass of whiskey off a person's head. Séverine's head to be precise, before Silva simply shoots her. Afterward, Bond throws the used pistol at a Mook as he starts to kick ass.
  • The "Revolver" in various versions of Clue is a pepperbox revolver rather than anything that the term calls to mind in modern times.
  • Various flintlocks made their way into the Assassin's Creed series starting with III. Ezio also had a customized wheellock pistol back in II, purportedly designed by Altair and built by Leonardo Da Vinci, whom historians often claimed to be the inventor of the wheellock pistol.
  • In various adaptations of The Three Musketeers, the wheellock is always the sidearm of our heroes.
  • In From Dusk Till Dawn, ancient vampire hitman "The Regulator" carries a brace of flintlock pistols despite operating in modern times.
  • The standard sidearm for the Revachol Citizens' Militia in Disco Elysium is a three-barreled variant of the pepperbox pistol updated to fire modern brass-cased 9mm rounds. Notably, several models appear or are referenced in the game. It's also explained that the Coalition doesn't want the RCM to be armed with automatic weapons, which limits their effectiveness in protracted combat.
  • Cesar, the final boss of the first Shank game, carries a pair of flintlock pistols that are a perfect contrast to Shank's own semi-auto pistols. He even uses them against Shank in the final cutscene but through Heroic Willpower the titular Shank brushes them off as he begins finishing off Cesar.
  • Maximillian starts out with a flintlock pistol in his chapter of Eternal Darkness, and can eventually find a second to use them Guns Akimbo. A sanity effect has him accidentally drop one and shoot himself with it while reloading them, and he uses one to kill his servants after the end of the chapter, thinking they are all Bonethieves.
  • A skull-engraved, triple-barreled Turnover Flintlock pistol appears as part of the Starter Pack DLC in Far Cry 6, called the Jackdaw. The barrels rotate automatically as each shot is fired and the hammer is automatically cocked instead of the former having to be manually switched and the latter manually cocked, and the reload animation has Dani throw the pistol away before pulling another one out of nowhere.
  • Tetra uses a magic flintlock that shoots water bullets alongside her cutlass in the Legends and Definitive Edition versions of Hyrule Warriors.

    Nambu Type 14 
Japanese semi automatic pistol with medium capacity and power. Effective at close range.

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Part of the Nambu pistol series that was first introduced in 1906, the Type 14 pistol was introduced to the Japanese Empire in 1925. It was created by the legendary Colonel Kijiro Nambu, who was hailed as the Japanese equal to John Browning. It was the sidearm for the Imperial Japanese armed forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War and in the Pacific Theater. It was the most common variant of the line with four hundred-thousand pistols made, compared to the ten thousand of the other variants combined. The weapon was inspired by German autopistols from the turn of the century, the Luger P08 in design and the Mauser C96 in action. The pistol fires the 8x22mm Nambu cartridge, which is comparable to the .380 ACP round. Late-production models have a wider trigger guard while early production models have a more round guard; the change was in response to complaints from soldiers in Manchuria that the weapon was hard to fire while wearing mittens. Its peculiar design, which resembled the Mauser C96 in that the barrel and receiver were one solid unit and that the bolt handle at the rear served the purpose of a modern slide grip, was the influence for the Ruger Standard pistol, which started out as an attempt at replicating this pistol.

The pistol has some known flaws. The striker spring and the recoil spring used for the recoil operation tended to wear out after sustained fire with the pistol. The firing pins for the pistol were also fragile; rather than using Nambu's quick design fix when he found out about parts breakage, the Army opted to issue spare pins with the expectation to disassemble the pistol and change pins after battle, assuming that the user survived whatever happened after his pistol malfunctioned. Even worse, the magazine retention system, consisting of the magazine release and an external retention spring, was apparently easily fouled by field conditions, leading many officers to their deaths when they tried to pull out empty magazines with soiled hands. Many of these flaws can be attributed to standards slipping during wartime production, especially as the Allies pushed closer and closer to home and the situation became more desperate. The pistol stopped production in 1945 after Allied occupation, although leftover pistols continued to be used for years afterward.

  • It's a given that any Japanese officer in any work set in World War II will be seen wielding the Nambu pistol.
  • Colonel Sato uses this pistol to execute martial artists in Ip Man. He was shot with his own pistol at the end.
  • Wielded in Windtalkers by a Japanese Communications Officer. Ben kills him before he can use it, however.
  • Rising Storm has this pistol issued for Japanese troops. Its weak cartridge is noted as it isn't as powerful as the Colt M1911 the American troops have.
  • The player can use a "Papa" Nambu in Resident Evil Survivor. It is oddly the most powerful handgun in the game, and shares ammo with the other pistols (via a weak handwave of it being called a "Custom" Nambu, nevermind that a real one, especially one that would be fifty years old when the game came out, would probably blow apart on the first shot if it were rechambered in 9x19mm).
  • The Nambu appears as the first weapon you acquire and the standard sidearm for Japanese infantry in the campaign of Call of Duty: World at War, and as one of the default handguns in multiplayer. It has very low recoil, clear iron sights and good accuracy, but a glitch with the game's programming causes the pistol to actually shoot to the top right of the iron sight when using them instead of where the actual iron sights are pointing at. It also has higher penetration than the other pistols, tied with the .357 Magnum.
  • Panther Claw mooks in Cutey Honey sometimes use this, as unlikely as it is. Not to mention they're gold plated like the rest of their arsenal.
  • The Pacific. Leckie finds one and claims it as a war trophy. He later ends up handing it over to Dr. Grant.
  • It's pretty much the default sidearm of every single Japanese officer in Commando Comics stories.
  • Used by Colonel Tatsuo in My Way, notably to shoot retreating soldiers at the Battle of Khalkin Gol. He later runs out of ammo for it and uses a captured Tokarev TT-33 to continue the executions.
  • The standard sidearm for the Japanese in Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, where its primary users are the officers and medics.

    Nambu Type 94 
Manufactured in Japan since before the war, some viewed this pistol as being unnecessarily complex in its design while others admired that it was compact and lightweight.
Description, Battlefield V

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To the right, a decent early production Type 94, and to the left, the pitiful late war Type 94
A Japanese compact pistol allegedly developed for export to South America but in truth made as a cheap military side-arm, the Type 94 pistol is considered by many pop-historians to be the worst military side-arm ever designed in the history of modern warfare. Kijiro Nambu's previous pistol, the Type 14, had been met with some complaints concerning trigger group reliability in the field and poor handling and size for vehicle usage. So in 1934, Nambu created a compact six-shot pistol firing the same 8x22mm cartridge.

Unlike the Type 14, the Type 94 had a concealed hammer (in the style of the Colt Hammerless pocket models), whose spring didn't weaken with sustained firing and guaranteed that the pistol would function reliably. Like the Type 14, the Type 94 had a complicated assemblynote  and used a locked breech recoil system relying on a locking block assembly similar to that of the modern Beretta 92. During firing, the locking block kept the barrel and slide together until the slide forced the block into its recess in the frame. At that point, the barrel stopped and the slide continued to the rear under its own momentum, extracting and ejecting the spent round. The return stroke of the slide chambered a fresh cartridge, got the locking block back into place and locked the system into battery until the next trigger pull. The Type 94 also had a magazine safety built into the frame to prevent firing should the magazine not be properly seated, such that one had to slap the magazine after inserting it to ensure proper feeding and trigger functionality.

The Type 94 is criticized as difficult to disassemble, underpowered (the bottle-necked 8x22mm Nambu is comparable to the .380 ACP, and much weaker than the 9x19mm and .45 ACP), and supposedly unsafe. Similarly to the Luger's receiver design, the trigger sear is exposed on the left side of the frame (although the Luger has a cover plate to keep the sear from getting depressed by external forces); one can unintentionally cause the Type 94 to shoot without pulling the trigger by carelessly handling itnote . This feature, apparently discovered when Americans accidentally mashed the sear bar on a captured pistol, became the source of an over-exaggerated Urban Legend that the Type 94 was intended as a suicide special or as a surprise weapon for Japanese soldiers feigning surrender.

The Type 94 was used by both Japanese tank crews and pilots of both Army and Navy air services, all of whom preferred compact pistols that could easily fit or be maneuvered in vehicles. Surprisingly, many infantry noncommissioned officers and even commissioned officers preferred the Type 94 to the earlier Type 14 owing to its good trigger reliability and better handling characteristics. As with most WWII-era Japanese firearms, production quality decreased toward the end of the war. Several hundred Type 94s continued to serve in other countries through The Vietnam War.


Anime
  • The strangest appearances for this gun must have been in Captain Harlock, where it's shown being wielded by Earth Defense Force crewmen on space ships.

Film

  • In the movie Stray Dog, several police investigators handle the Type 94.
  • In Fist of Legend, a Japanese general uses a Type 94 to execute a traitor.
  • The films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima feature the Type 94 in Japanese hands, with the Flag Raisers finding a Japanese soldier who Ate His Gun with it in the former and Shimizu using the pistol throughout the film in the latter.

Literature

  • In Neuromancer, Riviera attempts to save himself from being kidnapped with one.

Video Games

  • Appears as the standard Japanese sidearm in Commandos 2: Men Of Courage. In gameplay terms, it's functionally the same as the Luger and the only difference is its cosmetic appearance in the inventory menu. In terms of stopping power, all three pistols are identical.
  • Appears in Battlefield V Chapter 5: War in the Pacific. The Type 94 has a high rate of fire and a ridiculously fast mid-mag reload speed, so players who deploy it tend to abuse those quick reloads. Simply put, just put more bullets into the intended victim to compensate for the low damage per shot.

Web Video

  • Ian McCollum destroys the myths surrounding the Type 94 here. It's rather surprising that he also used it in a run-and-gun match, but as Ian noted, using weak ammunition caused the Type 94 to jam.

    Norinco QSZ-92 
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The current service pistol of the Chinese with Chopper Support, the QSZ-92 is designed by Norinco, the company behind the QBZ-95 bullpup assault rifle. It began development in 1994 and was adopted by the PLA in the late 1990s, most notably the Macau Garrison. The pistol uniquely features a double-column feed (similar to many rifle magazines) unlike most pistols that narrow at the top for a consistent feed angle.

The QSZ-92 is chambered in two calibres: the 5.8x21mm DAP92 note  and 9x19mm note  The basic variant would later get a redesign into the QSZ-92G, which adds an underbarrel accessory rail for attachments and better ergonomics.

  • Shows up twice in the Battlefield series:
    • The 9x19mm variant, oddly modeled with the hammer and slide release lever painted in a dull red, as the standard handgun of the PLA faction in Battlefield 2; like the USMC's M9 and MEC's MP-444, it comes in both unmodified form for most of the classes and with a suppressor for Special Forces.
    • The 5.8x21mm variant returns for Battlefield 4 as the second unlockable pistol in Multiplayer after the starting P226 and the unlockable M9, with the correct 20-round capacity but noticeably weaker damage.
  • The 9x19mm variant appears in Rainbow Six Siege with a (slightly incorrect) 10-round capacity as the sidearm for the Hong Kong SDU Operatives from Operation Blood Orchid. It can be fitted with a suppressor, muzzle brake, and/or laser sight.
  • Leehom Wang's character in Blackhat makes use of a QSZ-92-9.

    Ruby pistol 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/french_pistol_ruby_m1915_right.jpg

The Ruby, or Pistolet Automatique de 7 millimètre 65 genre "Ruby" to the French, was a Spanish semiautomatic pistol based on John Browning's FN Model 1903. Made in the Eibar region of Spain by Gabilondo y Urresti (later to be known as Llama Firearms), the Ruby was a cheap but sturdy gun intended for sales to American police and military officers. This exportation of pistols is exactly what gave the Ruby a significant place in history.

As World War One was getting underway, the French Army found itself short on guns in 1915. Having to drag obsolete rifles and "less than satisfactory machine guns" out of closets to issue to secondary line troops so front-line soldiers could get better weapons was already bad enough, but to hear that front-line troops needed lots more pistols than long rifles (for trench raiding purposes) made the situation much worse. As a result, the French contacted Gabilondo and placed a huge order for cheap pistols after having found the submitted samples adequate for trench use. The contract stated that Gabilondo had to deliver a minimum of 5,000 semiautomatic pistols per month, a tall order for a relatively small company with only 10 employees. A revision to the order saw the quota increase to 50,000 pistols per month by August 1915.

Gabilondo, overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility of fulfilling the demand by himself, then decided to partner with several other manufacturers in order to honor the contract. Eventually, there were at least 45 manufacturers making the pistol, with great variation in caliber, size, minor features, and production quality. A list of all possible pistols of the type can be found here.

The Ruby was a simple pistol, and was relatively easy to use and maintain. Most versions were chambered in .32 ACP, with a nine-round magazine (rather high capacity by 1915 standards), a slide stop that doubled as a safety, and a concealed hammer (given that it was intended to be drawn from a holster without snagging on the user's clothes). As mentioned, the large number of manufacturers of varying quality meant that not all guns could exchange parts, including magazines; the French mandated that all magazines be marked to identify the manufacturer and compatibility.

After the war ended, the Ruby saw plenty of use on the private sector and in government hands due to its sheer availability as military surplus. Production of the original Gabilondo Ruby stopped in 1919, but the other Eibar pistols continued until midway through the Great Depression, ending up exported to various combatants of World War Two, including the French Resistance, the Nazi-affiliated Vichy regime, Finland, Poland, and even Imperial Japan (as Japanese commissioned officers privately purchased their side-arms).

    Ruger Standard series 
A 22-caliber automatic pistol often used in intelligence operations. The Ruger is equipped with a built-in suppressor, and the bolt is locked in place while firing, making it almost completely silent. However, as a single shot weapon, it is unsuitable for rapid fire. Uses tranquillizer and emotion rounds. While non-lethal it is a valuable tool for covert infiltration and no-kill completions.

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A .22 LR target pistol designed by Bill Ruger, who based it on an aborted attempt to recreate the Japanese Type 14 Nambu pistol. The MkII (pictured) in particular, is the most famous iteration of the pistol, even being issued to Navy SEALs. Most fictional depictions of this gun will be the suppressed version, making it a weapon of choice for assassins and anyone wanting to play it quiet. Despite being only chambered in .22 Long Rifle, in fiction, this gun will usually avert the Little Useless Gun trope.
  • A version of the MkII modified to fire tranquillizer darts is given to Snake along with a Springfield Operator a few minutes into the first act of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The Wu Silent Pistol from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain looks to be based on the Ruger as well, with some design details from the AMT Auto-Mag.
  • One of 47's targets in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin has one in the basement of his castle. It can be downloaded in Absolution.
  • The Silenced .22 Pistol in Fallout: New Vegas is a MkII. It's rather useless, however; its only advantages over bigger pistols is that it can be smuggled into casinos even with no points in the Stealth skill, and it comes with increased chances of and damage dealt with a Critical Hit.
  • The controversial book Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors suggested it as a weapon of choice due to low cost and reliability.
  • Collateral. Vincent uses a MkII when he wants to play it quiet. Otherwise, he uses a USP.
  • Used by both antagonist and protagonist in Assassins (1995), as they are rival contract killers.
  • The original Delta Force game by Novalogic had a choice between a MkII and a 1911. The MkII is arguably a better choice of sidearm, due to its higher ammo capacity and integral silencer, especially given that every shot against enemies is a One-Hit Kill, negating the one advantage a 1911 would normally have.
  • Inara in Firefly carries one with a few extra bits when she holds up Saffron at the end of "Trash".
  • The ex-imperial outlaw Mayfeld in The Mandalorian carries a pair of compact blasters built on the Ruger Standard.
  • The Nordic Man in The Firm carries a suppressed Mk1.
  • Appears in one level of Condemned 2: Bloodshot as the "Silenced .22". It has a high capacity, but is generally weak unless you aim for the enemy's head, at which point it'll pop as if you were using a shotgun.
  • No More Room In Hell features the MkII with lit sights as a good pistol. Firepower is on par with 9mm (two headshots to kill a zombie, one if focused or against child zombies) and both it and its .22LR ammo are very lightweight, taking up minimal inventory space. The problem is how rare both the gun and ammo for it are, that is to say not common enough to make the Ruger a primary weapon.
  • The main handgun in Lost in Vivo, is a Ruger MkII pistol. In-game known as the "Damaged Handgun", true to its name it's not a very reliable weapon as it has a chance of jamming as you shoot it.
  • The Evoker in Persona 3 was designed after the the Ruger Mk. III. It is the tool used by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad to summon a Persona, with the method itself being highly evocative of committing suicide with a pistol.

    SIG P210 
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A Swiss single action 9x19mm 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, as well as one of the finest target pistols ever produced. Like the CZ-75, the slide rides inside of the frame, contributing to its 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 the service pistol of the Swiss Army and the Danish Army starting from 1949 until it was replaced by the Swiss in 1975 with the double-action SIG P220; the Danish held onto it for another four decades until after 70 years of service, the SIG P320 XCarry was selected in 2019 to replace it.

The pistol is very common in shooting sports, and it is notable for being the gun that Jan Foss used to win the first International Practical Shooting Confederation World Shoot in 1976. It will often fetch prices in excess of $2,000 on the open market for used models (two to five times what a modern 9mm pistol will go for). SIG reintroduced the pistol to the civilian market in 2017 (including a version that replaces the heel magazine release with a button at thumb level on the side, as tends to be preferred by American shooters), although its heavily machined and hand-fitted nature means prices aren't likely to go down anytime soon.


Anime & Manga

Comics

  • 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.

Film

    SIG Sauer P220 series 
Ergonomics and balance make this pistol easy to handle. High damage and stability make this weapon a great choice for accuracy during medium range and close range combat.
Description, Battlefield Hardline

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Top:P226
Bottom: P228
A pistol designed by Swiss/German gun company SIG Sauer, the P220 was introduced in 1975 to replace the P210 in Swiss Army service. A version with a double-stack magazine, the P226 (pictured above) was introduced in 1984 and entered the US military XM9 pistol trial, but came in second to a US military contract to the above-mentioned Beretta 92 by the smallest of margins.note  The P226, however, found favor with the US Navy SEALs, becoming their standard sidearm until its eventual replacement with the more compact P228 and later the Glock 19. The P228 itself was eventually phased out in favor of the more modern, variable-caliber P229. 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 worldwide. 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. The P220 series is also noteworthy for being one of the few hammer-fired designs to eschew a manual safety mechanism, most models coming solely with a decocker and some even eschewing that in favor of a "Double Action Kellerman" trigger,note  though there are single-action only variants of the design with a manual safety.

The original variant, the P220, has variations chambered in several calibers, most notably .45 ACP, 9x19mm, 7.65x21mm, and 10mm Auto, while the compact P225 is only available in 9x19mm. The P226 comes in 9x19mm, .40 S&W, and .357 SIG, while its compact variant, the P228, is only chambered in 9x19mm, with the later P229 adding .40 S&W and .357 SIG. A subcompact variant of the P229, the P224, was released in 2013.

Also releasing in 2013 was the P227, a double-stack .45 ACP variant with a 10-round magazine capacity and an optional extended magazine of 14 rounds. The P227 appears to be a realization of the P221 concept, a 14-round .45 ACP pistol that was rumored to be in development in the early 2000s but which was allegedly cancelled because of the Clinton-era Assault Weapons Ban in place at the time. The P227, though, didn't last long; SIG removed it from its website sometime in 2018, and at present it can only be found on the used market and appears to have been discontinued after a scant five year run.

The P220 is currently produced in only calibers .45 ACP & 10mm Auto. The 9x19mm version of the P220 was discontinued by SIG in 1991, largely due to it being redundant compared to the P226.note  However, it lives on in Japan as the Minebea P9, which is a licensed copy of it and the standard-issue sidearm of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. As of 2020, the JSDF will begin replacing the Minebea P9 with the H&K SFP9 (for Americans, this pistol is much better known to them as the VP9).

P220

  • A P220R is John McClane's main weapon for the first half of Live Free or Die Hard.
  • A silenced two-tone P220 appears in Hitman: Contracts. It has the same magazine capacity as the Silverballer, a quieter suppressor, and a lot less stopping power due to using the much more common generic pistol ammunition.
  • Red (2010). Cooper carries a P220 Sport with a compensated barrel.
  • A P220ST is one of the Winter Soldier's three weapons of choice, the others being a Skorpion and an M4 carbine with an M203 grenade launcher.
  • The P220 appears in all three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games as the SIP-t M200, one of the high-tier .45 ACP pistols you can obtain in the later portions of the games. Its performance rivals that of the UDP Compact with similar damage potential and degradation resistance but loses out to the latter in terms of ammo capacity as it holds only seven rounds.
  • The P220 Elite in .45 ACP is available in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as the "P890" (renamed from "Bruen .45" in the multiplayer beta), having a lower capacity than other handguns in return for higher power. It's the starting handgun in multiplayer and a common sidearm in the campaign. The animations pay special attention to the fact that it has a decocker in place of a manual safety, as it's used both while inspecting the weapon and putting it away.
  • Neil McCauley in Heat uses a P220 as his sidearm for the latter half of the movie.

P226

Anime & Manga

  • King of Thorn: Katherine Turner finds a SIG Sauer P226R in an abandoned Blackhawk helicopter and turns it on Owen. Owen later takes a holstered SIG from a dead SAS operator and fires it at himself to wake up from ALICE's influence and later destroying a vine apparition. It is also the sidearm of the SAS operators during Operation Sleeping Beauty.

Film

  • In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a few SIG Sauer P226Rs are seen, most notably by one of Lex's Mooks, who shoots Batman point-blank in the back of the head with one, although Bruce is saved by his armored cowl.
  • In How I Live Now when the Great Offscreen War is nearly upon the residence she and her cousin are staying at, Daisy pilfers a P226R from the house and escapes into the British countryside. Se carries it with her for the remainder of the film.
  • Emil Blonsky's sidearm in The Incredible Hulk (2008) is a P226R.
  • Officers Ann Lewis and Alex Murphy of RoboCop (1987) are shown using P226s, as are many other officers; RoboCop was in fact one of the first films to prominently feature the weapon (following Rambo: First Blood Part II in 1985 and Short Circuit in '86; this was at least the first to actually have a P226 fired on-screen).
  • Speed Racer uses one to threaten Cruncher Block.
  • In Strange Days, Mace keeps a P226 in her limo.

Live-Action TV

  • A modified P226 E2* variant appears in Kamen Rider Amazons as the standard sidearm of Nozama Peston Service mercenaries. It is depicted as a handgun outfitted with electroshock rounds for use against Amazon monsters.
  • Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time carries a P226 as her sidearm once she becomes the town's Sheriff.
  • Reese in Person of Interest uses a P226R. Hersh uses a sporterized X-Five model.
  • The P226R is John Watson's service pistol and weapon in Sherlock.

Video Games

  • A P226, misidentified as the smaller P228, is the first handgun available in Afraid of Monsters: Director's Cut. It's the strongest of the 9mm handguns, though it gets the lowest capacity in return (13 shots compared to 15 for the Beretta and 20 for the Glock).
  • The P226R shows up in Battlefield 4 as a well-balanced starting sidearm, and is available for purchase in Battlefield Hardline for the Operator class.
  • Also appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts as one of the Ghosts' sidearms.
  • The basic pistol in Condemned 2: Bloodshot is a P226 with an unusable Laser Sight.
  • The P226 is a 3-star handgun in Girls' Frontline. As a reference to the weapon's adoption by Navy SEALs, she carries a seal plushie everywhere. She is very prideful, often boasting of her "elite" status and perceived superiority over M9.
  • In the Gungrave anime, a pair of P226s is Brandon Heat's preferred weapons when he becomes a hitman for the Millenion organization.
  • The P226R appears in Hitman: Absolution with custom versions available for the Agency and Layla Stockton in addition to the standard variant.
  • The P226R, designated the L106A1, is available in Insurgency: Sandstorm as the Security team's equivalent to the M9. It costs 2 supply points.
  • A P226 appears in PAYDAY 2, as the Signature .40. Attaching the Two-Tone Slide mod turns it into a P226 Equinox.
  • Joker uses a two-toned P226 in the intro of Persona 5, and it can be purchased as one of his main weapons in Untouchable.

Other

  • Former Irish Defence Minister Willie O'Dea infamously got himself in trouble with this photo of himself pointing a P226 at cameras.
  • 86 EIGHTY-SIX details that Spearhead Squadron uses 9mm pistols as their personal sidearms, which the anime depicts as the P226. Further confirmed in the light novels which specify that the pistols are double-action hammer fired, lack safeties, and use double column magazines with a 15 round capacity.

P227

  • Ghost Recon Wildlands features the P227, marking the first appearance of that model in any media. It can be found in a locked weapons box and accessorized with 15-round extended magazines, various laser sights and a suppressor. It appears again in Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

P228

  • Lewis uses a P228 in RoboCop 2.
  • 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 of 24.
  • Marcus and Mike carry P228s in Bad Boys (1995).
  • 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.
  • The P228 is available for use in Counter-Strike, in which it is the middling pistol between the lighter USP and the heavier Desert Eagle; Global Offensive replaces it with a compact P250. The P228 is incorrectly stated to use the .357 SIG cartridge (the P229 was the first of the P22X series to be chambered for this round).
  • In Angel Detective Kate Lockley's sidearm is a P228.
  • In The Flash (2014), Detective Joe West uses a SIG Sauer P228 as his personal sidearm. In the Season 3 finale, his daughter Iris takes the gun and shoots Future Flash in the back once he's been knocked out of his "Savitar" armor.
  • The P228 is available in Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear with the "Black Arrow" expansion and returns for Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

P229

  • Elliott Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies is armed with a P229 in the climax of the movie. This was one of the earliest appearances of the P229 in entertainment media (December 1997).
  • Rie Kinezono uses a P229 as her main weapon in Burn Up! Excess. Like the example in Tomorrow Never Dies, this was also a very early appearance of the gun (December 1997).
  • Movies that star U.S. Secret Service agents as protagonists feature the P229 as their standard-issue firearm, which is Truth in Television: the USSS used the P229 in .357 SIG from 1999 to 2019, at which point they began switching to the 9mm Glock 45 instead.
  • The P229 is Kyle Madigan's sidearm in Parasite Eve 2, equipped with a silencer and a flashlight.
  • The main sidearm of Elsa de Sica in Gunslinger Girl's anime adaptation.
  • Colonel John Casey uses a customized P229 as his weapon for all 5 seasons of Chuck.

Minebea P9

  • Siren 2 features the Minebea P9 as its most common handgun, owing to its use in reality as the Japanese Self Defense Force's sidearm.
  • Japanese Self-Defense Force personnel in Gate use the Minebea P9.
  • The P9 shows up in the hands of several characters in Lynn Okamoto's works, most famously in Elfen Lied with Chief Kakuzawa and by several characters in Brynhildr in the Darkness.
  • Akira Inami in Crisis (2017) used a P9 in his time with the JSDF.
  • In Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale, once the true scale of Dr. Shigemura's threat is clear, Seijirou Kikuouka and his team move to arrest him. They are all armed with the P9, which Kikuouka uses to shoot open an electronic lock.
    • Meanwhile, in Sword Art Online: Alicization, the JSDF security team on board the Ocean Turtle find themselves massively outgunned, having only a few P9s to fight off the heavily armed Glowgen Defense Systems mercenaries.

Multiple/Other

  • The P220 can be found in a drawer in the dressing rooms of Carnegie Hall during the first stage of Parasite Eve. The P226, P228, & P229 can all be found in the early floors of the Chrysler Building during New Game Plus.
  • Butler the Battle Butler from Artemis Fowl wields many weapons, but consistently uses an unspecified SIG Sauer pistol as his primary sidearm. In the graphic novels, it is illustrated as a MAC-10.
  • Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, Todd and David of NCIS have P228s as their agency-issued sidearms and later upgrade to P229s, just like their real-life counterparts.
  • The basic pistol in Left 4 Dead 2 is a heavily customized P220 SAO with the slide and barrel of the P228.
  • John Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) uses both a P220 and a P229.
  • Rainbow Six Siege features the P226 Navy and the P229 Elite, the former available to all SAS Operators and the latter used by the SAT and FES ones.
  • In Chicago P.D., Hank Voight's preferred weapon is the P229R, save for in season 2 where he switches it out for the larger P226R.
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit makes occasional use of multiple P220 variants, including a perp in season 4 and FBI special agent Lauren Cooper in season 9 pulling the original P220; the P228 being used by Olivia in place of her Glock on one occasion in season 10, detective Ash Ramsey in season 11, and another perp in season 17; and in the season 16 crossover with Chicago P.D., Hank Voight uses the P226R he'd switched his usual 229 out for at the time.

    SIG Sauer P320 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_919.jpeg
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sigm18.jpg
Top: P320
Bottom: M18
Released in 2014 as Sig Sauer's first entry into the striker-fired pistol market, the P320 utilizes a modular design taken from the earlier P250, allowing for easy combination of different grip sizes, barrel lengths, and calibers. Most notable, however, is the fact that in January 2017 the P320 won the American military's XM17 Modular Handgun System contract, and over the next several years replaced the aging Beretta 92 series as the primary sidearm of the United States military as the M17. After the conclusion of the MHS selection process, many American police agencies followed suit in selecting the P320 as their standard pistol, most prominently being the Chicago Police Department and the Virginia State Police. The Danish Army also selected the P320 XCarry to be its new sidearm as of 2019, replacing the 70 year-old SIG P210, and the Canadian Armed Forces selected it to replace their 80+ years-old Inglis Hi-Powers in 2022, having previously acquired some for their JTF-2 special forces unit in 2019note . The Australian Defence Force followed suit in very similar circumstances, also selecting the P320 XCarry Pro to replace its old Browning Hi-Power pistols in October 2022 with the first official purchase made in July 2023.

On the downside, it turned out that the pistols had not been properly drop-tested before entering the MHS competition (the trigger turned out to be heavy enough to pull itself through its own weight if the weapon is dropped on its slide, since there's no trigger safety like on most other striker-fired pistols), and while the issue had been fixed for the military-issue M17, police and civilian versions were rushed out without this fix, which led to discharges, injuries, and a "voluntary upgrade program" (as opposed to a mandatory recall) which involved modifying the trigger group with a lighter trigger and a mechanical disconnector. Nevertheless, as with many other weapons adopted by the American military, the reputation has hounded it since, to the point 2023 saw two separate controversies surrounding the weapon supposedly firing without even touching the trigger or exploding from firing out of battery - for the most part, however, these turned out to be false, with nobody currently being able to conclusively prove the P320 still fires without intentional effort, and outside analysis generally concluding that the out-of-battery discharges are a fairly normal occurrence among handguns, especially given the heavy use of reloaded or otherwise out-of-spec ammo among civilian shooters, being given particular scrutiny whenever it involves a P320.note 

Due to its modular nature, several varieties of the P320 exist, sporting a myriad of different barrel lengths, magazines, and accessories. Arguably one of the coolest of these is the P320 RX, which uses a slide with a recession behind the ejection port to allow for the mounting of a small proprietary "ROMEO1" red-dot sight, increasing target acquisition speed.

  • Utilized in APB as the new sidearm of the Chicago police force, functioning as a high-tech taser with both lethal and non-lethal settings.
  • Used by several of Ares' mooks in John Wick: Chapter 2. Of course, they do little to help them against John.
  • Seen as the sidearm of Weller in Blindspot.
  • Hawaii Five-0 shows it for the first time in Season 8, most notably used by Adam Noshimuri as his sidearm.
  • The P320 RX made its Call of Duty debut in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) as the "M19". Garrick uses one with a unique black finish for the "Piccadilly" mission (which can be used in multiplayer, with extended magazines and a lightweight trigger, as the "Dirty Business" blueprint variant), and for "Old Comrades" Nikolai prepares one in .40 S&W for Captain Price. One with no attachments is also used in several execution animations in multiplayer.
  • Appears as the M17 in Squad, used by US Army squad leaders.
  • J.J. and a terrorist fight over an M17 in one of the first fights in Interceptor, which ends with the terrorist taking the slide off and J.J. gouging out his eye with the frame.
  • One fitted into a Flux Defense MP17 carbine chassis is featured in Battlefield 2042 as the "MP28". The chassis includes a space for a spare magazine in the foregrip, which is used the first time the weapon is reloaded.
  • Micro has a P320 Compact hidden under his table in the second episode of The Punisher (2017). Frank holds him at gunpoint with it in the third episode, noting that he's not taken very good care of it.
  • Colonel Brigham has an M17 in the fourth season of Westworld.
  • Agent Needham carries a P320 Compact in The Girl in the Spider's Web.
  • Psycho-Pass Providence has the P320 as the standard sidearm of the Special Action Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    SIG Sauer Pro series 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sigpro.jpg
The SIG Pro was SIG-Sauer's first attempt at a polymer-frame handgun, developed late in The '90s by its American branch in Exeter, New Hampshire. Compared to the later and more famous P320, the Pro much more closely resembles the preceding P220 series, sharing the same hammer-fired operation and control arrangement of a decocker with no safety outside of limited variants and, despite its polymer frame, offering the option of interchangeable grip panels (albeit using proprietary wraparound panels rather than sharing those of its metal-framed predecessor). It was marketed as a lightweight, compact and cheaper alternative to the "legacy" P220 and 226 derivatives.

It came in two generations: the first, introduced in 1999, included the SP 2340, available in .357 SIG and .40 S&W, and standard and compact versions of the SP 2009 (pictured here) in 9x19mm. This generation lasted only a couple years and was quickly replaced in 2002 with a second-generation SP 2022, which included a Picatinny rail on the dust cover and a redesigned trigger guard, and was available in a full-size variant in all three calibers and a compact version in 9mm. This version was apparently named as such because it was designed for a French police contract - their initial purchase of 250,000 pistols was, according to Wikipedia, the largest single order for service handguns since World War II - where it was intended to see use for 20 years.

As of 2023, the SP 2022 is still listed on SIG Sauer's website but is only found under the "Other Models" section, no longer having its own dedicated webpage. Rumors currently circulate that SIG is planning to discontinue the model soon thanks to having shifted focus to the existing P220 series for hammer-fired pistols and the newer P320 for less expensive polymer-frame handguns, though the French police evidently plan to keep using the SP 2022 beyond the initial twenty years as they made another purchase of the pistols in 2018 (though with a purchase price of around 250,000 euros, this would be enough for only around 1,000 pistols, much smaller than the initial massive buy). The SP 2022 is also a popular choice for several other police forces as well, in use with groups like Bulgaria's military police, the Colombian National Police, and Portugal's Republican National Guard and Public Security Police.


  • Its earliest media appearance was Mezzo Forte, where Momomi makes use of one in the final shootout.
  • In The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne has an SP 2009 in his safety deposit box in Zurich, but takes everything in the box except for the gun.
  • The SP 2340 shows up several times in Noir, seeming to be the primary handgun among Les Soldats.
  • Missing (2012): Rebecca grabs one out of the holster of a Parisian cop in the second episode.
  • Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~: Lt. Wallace grabs an SP 2340 during a test trial in the third episode.
  • The SP 2009 shows up in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis as the standard handgun for the UBCS mercs (as such referred to as the "Merc's Handgun"), Carlos having one in his section of the main game and Nicholai starting with one in The Mercenaries, albeit anachronistically as the game is set a year before it entered the market.
  • An indeterminate model shows up in several of the Like a Dragon games, starting with Yakuza 3 where two of them are the preferred weapons of CIA agent Andre Richardson. It's customized with wooden grip panels and compensator ports in the barrel and slide; curiously, the player can also upgrade the "9mm Automatic Pistol" (a Makarov with an extended barrel) into the same model, called the "Drow-Z 55" because it apparently fires tranquilizer darts that stun enemies. The model is reused in several of the other games, but is only actually usable as a weapon by the player in Yakuza Kiwami.
  • Solomon Lane uses a suppressed SP 2022 as his sidearm in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Several naturally also appear in use with French police in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
  • Mr. Brooks features the SP 2340 as Detective Tracy Atwood's preferred pistol.
  • 22 Bullets: the SP 2022 is used by the police inspectors Marie Goldman and Marco Echinard.
  • Most modes in Contagion give the player an SP 2340, referred to generically as the "Sig Sauer", as their starting weapon. It deals relatively low damage but has more than double the capacity of any of the stronger handgun options.
  • The film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code replaces Lieutenant Collet's MR-73 revolver with an SP 2022.
  • Paul: Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil uses an SP 2009 as his sidearm, compared to fellow agents Haggard and O'Reilly using more standard Glock 19s.
  • The 2009 French film Le missionnaire naturally features the SP 2022, Mario being given one by the gendarme Simon and another one with a suppressor held by André during the ending.
  • In The Dark Knight, when a meeting with Scarecrow is interrupted by several Batman imposters, the "Chechen" pulls out an SP 2009.

    Smith & Wesson Model 39 
A special handgun developed by the US navy for its Special Forces units. It is furnished with a slide lock mechanism to maximize the noise-canceling effect when equipped with a suppressor. For this reason, it is limited to single-shot manual fire.
Mk. 22 Description, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

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The first American-made double action 9x19mm pistol, this pistol was developed for the Army's pistol trials of 1954. Intended to be an American equivalent of the Walther P38, it incorporated several features from it, such as the decocker, though it used a full length slide as opposed to the Walther's exposed barrel. Although the Army abandoned the pistol trials, the Model 39 found favour with Navy SEALs, who used both the regular version and a modified one known as the Mk 22 "Hush Puppy" which could be fitted with a supressor, had enlarged sights to clear said suppressor, and had a slide-locking mechanism to allow quieter action. The pistol also proved to be very popular on the police and civilian markets with several variants of it being made over time. There was even a heavily-customized unofficial variant called the ASP, which was one of the first pistols designed for concealed-carry.

The Model 59 is a variant with a widened frame to fit double-stack magazines, upping the capacity from 8 rounds to 14. Both the 39 and 59 also have "second generation" variations, with combinations of all steel (Models 539 and 559), all stainless (Models 639 and 659), or steel frame with alloy slide (Models 439 and 459). The 39 and 59 series have since been retired in favor of their M&P series of handguns, which are polymer-based, striker-fired designs following the trend of the Glock and Springfield XD.

  • Vasquez in Aliens carries one with pearl grips. She makes use of it during her Last Stand with the aliens.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Snake is issued with a version of the Mk 22 Hush Puppy modified to fire Tranquillizer Darts. The Boss dismantles it during the Virtuous Mission, but EVA gets it back and returns it to him during Operation: Snake Eater. The weapon also appears in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as a starting weapon and is an invaluable tool in recruiting enemy soldiers.
  • Commando (1985): Sully carries an ASP 9 based on the Model 39, which he uses to kill mall security guards.
  • Colonel Hannibal Smith of The A-Team uses one as one of his preferred sidearms of choice, alternating between the original Model 39 and the stainless 639 later in the series.
  • Day of the Dead (1985). "Bub", a freakin' zombie, somehow still knows how to use one.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops features the ASP 9, a custom, anachronistic (as always for this game) variant meant for special forces use with a shortened barrel, clear grips and open-sided magazines to inspect remaining ammo without having to unload the weapon, and a guttersnipe sight. It shows up for "Operation 40" in the singleplayer, where Mason uses one to assassinate Fidel Castro's body-double, and appears in multiplayer as one of the three default handguns, dealing equal damage as the other two but competing with a faster rate of fire and reload time to make up for its slightly harder to use sights and its lack of attachment options beyond Guns Akimbo.
  • Bill Paxton's character in True Lies is shown in one scene with a Daisy Model 93, an airsoft replica of the Model 659.
  • In Cobra, Cobretti was apparently meant to carry an ASP, though he's never actually seen with it in the released film.
  • The two Vietcong games feature the Model 39 with a suppressor.
  • James Bond:
  • Button Man protagonist Harry Exton uses one as his sidearm in "The Killing Game", especially when he confronts his Voice.
  • Mafia III features it as the "Alfredsson M419", obtained from the Arms Dealer for free as the starting handgun.
  • The Model 659, a stainless variant of the Model 59, is the weapon of the robbery crew in Reservoir Dogs, and Mr. White also carries a Model 639 as a personal weapon, which at one point during the escape he uses Guns Akimbo with his issued 659. A blink-and-you'll-miss it shot of White's police file in a deleted scene even lists him as favoring an S&W 9mm.
  • A Model 39 with a suppressor and the Mk 22's raised ironsights shows up as the "Silencer handgun" in Resident Evil: Dead Aim. It's Fong Ling's default handgun, and Bruce can find it as well with a little exploring; it holds 8 shots to his default handgun's 15, but the Hollywood Silencer means zombies only react to shots that hit them directly.

    Smith & Wesson M&P 
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First released in 2005, the M&P is the latest of Smith & Wesson's semi-automatic pistols. It shares its name with one of the company's most popular products, the Military & Police revolver (later designated in 1957 as the Model 10). Like its ancestor, the M&P is aimed at law enforcement and military and is also available for civilians. In practice, the M&P has found success with many police and law enforcement agencies around the world, but no military force has shown any interest in adopting it as a service weapon, unlike its revolver predecessor (the only exception being a small batch of 9mm models that was delivered to the Iraqi military in 2008 as a stop-gap measure to fill a desperate need for pistols).

Like the Glocknote , the M&P semiautomatic pistol is made from polymer, and is striker-fired, with no manual safety (an optional manual safety was later released as an accessory in 2009). The weapon was designed with ergonomics and customization in mind, with an accessory rail, ambidextrous slide stop, and a reversible grip-mounted magazine release. One notable improvement the M&P has over the Glock is that disassembly does not require a pull of the trigger — something that has been the cause of quite a few unintended discharges with Glocks. The M&P comes in multiple versions, varying in size and capacity. Available chamberings include 9x19mm Para, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, and .45 ACP. In November 2021 and SHOT Show 2023, additional chambering options in 10mm and 5.7x28mm were released, respectively.

The single-stack M&P variant meant for concealed carry is known as the Shield. Since its debut in April 2012, the M&P Shield has become one of S&W's most successful products and one of the most popular concealed carry pistols in America, reaching 1 million sales in November 2015 and hitting 3 million sales in June 2019.

In February 2017, a second generation "M&P 2.0" was released to the general public (this was S&W's entry in the U.S. military's Modular Handgun System competition, which was eventually won by the SIG P320). It features replaceable backstraps, an improved trigger, and more aggressive texturing, as well as other minor modifications. Later that year in November 2017, the Shield 2.0 was also launched, also featuring most of the same improvements that the full-size M&P 2.0 got.

A very notable entry in the M&P lineup is the M&P 380 Shield EZ, introduced at SHOT Show 2018. An unusual design being a compact-sized .380 ACPnote  with a grip safety, this pistol is noted for its very easy-to-rack slide (thanks to having an internal hammer instead of being striker-fired) and magazines with thumb studs for easy loading (much like a .22 LR pistol magazine). These features make it primarily targeted at people who generally have trouble handling a semi-automatic pistol, which are mainly female, elderly, and disabled customers. In fact, American Rifleman's Ladies Pistol Project 3 tested 26 pistols in the hands of 68 women and found that the Shield EZ was by far the clear favorite. The Shield EZ series added a 9mm chambering option in December 2019.

In March 2021, S&W announced the 9mm Shield Plus, another model of the Shield series designed to compete in the "micro-compact" category, a new semi-auto pistol classification that was kicked off with the SIG Sauer P365's release in 2018. From the outside, the Plus model looks almost identical to any other Shield 2.0, but the real significance of the Plus is its redesigned magazine that manages to increase the base ammo capacity from 7 rounds to 10 with barely any additional widening of the grip. In January 2022 at the Las Vegas SHOT Show, the Shield Plus was announced to be the first pistol to chamber Federal Ammunition's proprietary cartridge .30 Super Carry with an even higher ammo capacity of 13 rounds.

    Thompson/Center Arms Contender 
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The Contender is a single shot breech-loading pistol designed by Thompson/Center Arms (not to be confused with John T. Thompson, inventor of the Thompson Submachine Gun) as a target pistol and as a pistol hunter's weapon. The biggest feature of the Contender is its sheer customization potential. The trigger, safety and sights could all be easily adjusted. The frame of the pistol was designed so that any Contender barrel length or caliber could fit with any model frame and could be changed out with just a flat screwdriver. You could even put a stock and scope on it and turn it from a Cool Pistol into a Cool Rifle.note 

In addition, while Thompson/Center at first only manufactured barrels stopping just short of the .308 Winchester caliber, they could fit any caliber from .22 LR to .30-30 Winchester. It could also accept .410 shotgun shells with the right barrel type. Numerous custom gun manufacturers also created custom ammunition types for the Contender. This means that it can run the range from being a .22 Long Rifle target pistol to a .45-70 caliber deer- or bear-hunting pistol. The Encore is essentially a beefed-up Contender, allowing it to fire more powerful rounds. In more than a few depictions however, the pistol fires an additional (and very fictional) cartridge: high explosive! It is also typically seen as a weapon used by sinister characters, often professional assassins and hitmen. There are two reasons for being depicted this way. It's a target pistol, meaning it's designed for extreme accuracy, and it's single shot, which emphasizes how deadly the user is: he only needs one shot.

  • Cool Action: As with many breech-loading guns in movies, it's opening the break top to insert or remove a cartridge, often opening it with the snap of a wrist.
    A similar action had been designed for a short hunting rifle in the Soviet Union by Izhmash not long after the Contender hit the market, which featured a break-opening operated by a lever flush with the trigger guard and an external hammer. And which also fit a lot of different rifle and shotgun calibers on the same receiver frame. Modern post-1990 versions keep the lever opening, but an internal hammer as in a classic boxlock and no longer resemble the Contender.
  • The John Woo classic Hard Boiled, where Mad Dog takes shots at our heroes with a .223 caliber pistol towards the climax of the film.
  • Another John Woo movie, Hard Target, had this used by the film's Big Bad Emil Fouchon. His is a .45-70 version. Towards the end of the film, he forces Chance Boudreaux's love interest to load it for him, suggestively ordering her to "load me".
  • In Fate/Zero, this is the weapon of choice of Kiritsugu Emiya. It uses custom bullets called "Origin Bullets" which have magical properties, along with more mundane .30-06 rounds for disposing of lesser targets.
  • In the No One Lives Forever series, it appears as the Bacalov Corrector. It's a Sniper Pistol with a long range scope, and fires high explosive ammunition.
  • In The Specialists video game, it fires 7.62x51mm rounds and can be modified with an LAM and a 3x magnification scope. You can also beat your foes silly with it.
  • In American Guns, Rich sells a Contender to a man looking for a weapon to go hunting with his buddies. The handgun's ability to convert to a rifle, as well as the huge customization potential, are touched upon as selling points.
  • The Contender makes an appearance in the DayZ standalone game as the "Longhorn", firing the same 7.62mm round that the game's Mosin-Nagant fires. It can also attach a scope.
  • A heavily modified, futuristic one appears in a single episode of Cowboy Bebop, Sympathy for the Devil, where it's used to fire a bullet made out of a rare isotope that's the only thing that can kill the episode's immortal Big Bad.
  • Grand Theft Auto V's "Ill Gotten Gains" update adds one as the Marksman Pistol, capable of killing anyone in one shot, but balanced by only having one bullet.
  • The multiplayer of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End features a Contender as a sidearm, where it's fitted with a short-range scope and apparently firing some variety of .50-caliber bullet, judging by its A.K.A.-47'd moniker of "Bishai .50 Cal".
  • Shows up as a five-star T-Doll in Girls' Frontline. Acts like more of a rifle T-Doll between her slow rate of fire and higher damage than most other T-Dolls (at highest enhancement, her bullets deal as much damage as an unenhanced Mosin-Nagant; the only handgun that deals more damage is the even larger Thunder .50 BMG). Also noteworthy as a rare gun in the meta, having a ridiculously low pull-rate even for her rarity.

    TT pistol 
"Russian semi-automatic pistol with medium capacity and power. Effective at close range."
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Designed by Fedor Tokarev in 1930, the TT was based on John Browning's 1903 and 1911 pistols, albeit with a significant number of modifications, such as making the locking lugs go all the way around the barrel, making the recoil spring fully captive around the guide rod, and making the trigger assembly one piece, combining the hammer and sear into one modular assembly that could be quickly removed and replaced, and generally making the gun simpler and easier to maintain.

The Tokarev was intended to replace the obsolete Nagant revolver in the Soviet Army; ultimately, however, both weapons continued service together until 1952, when they were both replaced by the above-mentioned Makarov pistol. The first model was the TT-30 pistol, but the most noticeable model was the TT-33.

During the Cold War, the Tokarev was exported to countries associated with the Soviet Union like the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and Vietnam. Some of them produced their own variants, sometimes chambered in other calibers, like the Chinese Norinco Type 54; known as "Black Star" for the star on the grip, where it has infamous ties with Chinese Triads due to vast numbers sold in the black market. It was also used by the Yakuza, as many Type 54 pistols were smuggled into Japan.

As is typical for Russian weapons of the time, the TT-33 could continue operating normally even after suffering a ridiculous amount of abuse — extra feed lips were even machined into the hammer/sear assembly so the weapon could still be reliably used with damaged magazines. The only downside is that the push-button style magazine release is inherently prone to accidental drops — the later Makarov used a more traditional heel-mounted release lever, rather than the American-style button near the trigger guard like the TT-33, in an effort to prevent this. Another drawback is the difficulty of safe carry (non-Chinese or Yugoslav Tokarevs have no manual safety and rely on a half-cock notch for the hammer; import into the US requires installation of a manual safety but very few of these are made very well, apart from guns purposefully designed with them, such as Zastava's M57 and M70a). The pistol's narrow, awkwardly-angled grip can also make holding the gun uncomfortable, though one can find plenty of aftermarket grips to fix this.

The 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge the pistol is chambered in was based on the 7.63x25mm Mauser cartridge that was used for the aforementioned Mauser C96 pistol. It is a hot cartridge that exceeds 400m/s even out of handgun barrels, has excellent performance against obstacles and light armor, and is not particularly hard to control, if a bit loud and flashy. Tokarevs can use the weaker Mauser cartridge, but the Tokarev cartridge cannot be used with the C96 Mauser due to higher pressures. German soldiers during the invasion of Russia took a liking to Soviet pistol-caliber weapons as a result, because they had plenty of 7.63mm to feed them with if stolen Russian ammo was in short supply; some stolen weapons even got official designations in Wehrmacht use because they fit so easily into the existing logistics train, with the Tokarev going by "Pistole 615(r)". The weapon still sees some use in the modern day, particularly in the Vietnamese military where the K14-VN, a version with a slightly lengthened barrel and a widened frame to accommodate double-stacked magazines of 13 rounds, was accepted as the new standard sidearm in 2014.

  • Expect any depiction of a Soviet soldier (particularly officers and commissars) in the Second World War, a member of the Triad or Yakuza to use this pistol.
  • The Type 54 pistols were featured by gangsters in Hard Boiled. Tequila uses two of them in the teahouse shootout in the introduction. Alan brandishes a nickel plated Type 54 later in the movie.
  • Can be used in the original GoldenEye 007, its Spiritual Successor Perfect Dark, and the GoldenEye remake, as respectively the "DD44 Dostovei," "CC13," and "Torka T3." In the original game and Perfect Dark it's fitted with wraparound "Tokagypt"-style grips. The Wii game features a proper TT-33 with the original grips, while Reloaded (and by extension 007 Legends, which reuses the model) switch it out for a stainless-steel Polish wz. 33, distinguished by an aftermarket safety (though still with the original Soviet grips).
  • Conflict: Vietnam features this as the late-game NVA/Vietcong pistol with it being used by by enemy officers more frequently than the Makarov PM.
  • The standard issue pistols used by Kingsman agents in Kingsman: The Secret Service are modified TT pistols with an under-barrel shotgun attachment.
  • Enemy at the Gates. Khruschev hands one to a Soviet general who has failed him and has to commit suicide.
  • A Type 54 "Black Star" appears several times in the Phantom Bullet arc of Sword Art Online, though it has a much darker implication of its use. For the arc's female lead protagonist Sinon, it triggers her PTSD as it's the same gun that a robber used to shoot at least one post office/bank employee before she bit the robber's hand. She took the gun to protect another worker and her mother from being shot, killing the robber with it in self-defense.
    • When arc villain Death Gun is seen using it in the online game of Gun Gale Online that the story takes place in, it triggers Sinon's traumatic flashback to that incident, and freaks Kirito out for its apparent ability to kill a player in real life when they get shot with it, despite that supposedly being impossible. It turns out it doesn't cause the deaths of players on its own; rather, Death Gun's player uses it to signal an accomplice watching via live streams in real life to inject the target player with a lethal dose of a drug that causes their heart to stop.
  • The Tokarev pistol plays an important role in a film named, what else, Tokarev.
  • The standard Russian sidearm in Archer, which fits with its ambiguous time period.
  • Detective Carter dual-wields a Norinco Type 54 with his Beretta after taking it from a Chinese gangster for a shootout in Rush Hour.
  • Used by Tatsuo in My Way when he runs out of ammo for his Nambu and by a Soviet commissar, both to shoot their retreating men.
  • In Persona, the Tokarev is the weakest handgun in the game, and is the initial weapon of Yuka Ayase.
  • This is Joker's first gun in Persona 5, called the "Tkachev" in-game. It is also depicted as his gun in the anime special episode The Daybreakers and again in the game's full anime adaptation. Using the gun is Joker's Neutral special attack in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and being able to get around Family-Friendly Firearms where it's a model gun that is made real thanks to the Metaverse.
  • The standard sidearm for the Red Army in Red Orchestra, and one of two options in Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad.
  • The standard sidearm of the NVA and Viet Cong in Rising Storm 2: Vietnam.
  • Appears simply as Tokarev in Girls' Frontline as a 3-star HG. With her "Griffon Dancer" costume, she carries an engraved one fitted with a fancy-shaped blade.
    • H&K CAWS also carries a holstered TT-33, alongside a plush keychain of her and a photo of them together, referencing that both characters were drawn by the same illustrator.
  • Somewhat common in the early Call of Duty games, starting with the original game's expansion pack United Offensive adding it to replace the apparently-stolen Luger pistols the Soviets had to use in the base game. Call of Duty 2 makes use of the earlier TT-30, while World at War goes back to the 33 as a frequent sidearm in the Russian campaign and the second-to-last sidearm unlocked in multiplayer, also making a brief appearance alongside a flashlight in the "Project Nova" flashback mission of Black Ops. After an absence of several years it returned for Call of Duty: Vanguard as the "RATT", with several mod options, including conversions to 9mm and .45 ACP.
  • Joker/Akira, in reference to his original weapon in the source material, gets a Tokarev as a gift in New Vegas Showtime. He notices the similarity to the Tkachev mentioned above and wonders if the universe is messing with him.

    Vektor CP1 
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Designed by the South African based Lyttleton Engineering Works (now Denel) and entering the market in 1996, the Vektor CP1 is a unique-looking semi-automatic handgun. Aimed at the conceal carry market, the gun has few sharp edges, to keep from snagging on clothing, making it look like it jumped right out of a science fiction film. Also unique is the weapon's safety, located at the front of the trigger guard.

Unfortunately, in 2000, it was discovered that some of the pistols had a flawed safety that could cause the weapon to discharge if dropped. CP1s in South Africa were fixed and returned, but since Denel didn't have enough infrastructure in foreign markets for this, they instead offered a cash refund to any who returned the weapon. This recall ended any potential the weapon had in the United States (its primary market), and also led to the weapon's end of production just a year later in 2001.

The CP1 was available in 9x19mm Para, 9x21mm IMI, and .40 S&W.


Anime & Manga

Films — Live-Action

Live-Action TV

    Vektor SP1 
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Top:SP1
Bottom: SP1 Sport

An improved 9mm version of the Z-88 pistol (itself a localized version of the Beretta 92) produced since 1992 by Denel Land Systems, formerly known as Lyttelton Engineering Works.


  • Both Max De Costa and Julio from Elysium use them regularly.
  • The eponymous Hanna uses them to escape the CIA.
  • A number of characters in the Strike Back series uses the SP1 as a weapon
  • A customized SP1 can be obtained in Parasite Eve if you give Wayne 300 junk and ask him to make you a random gun.
  • Snake Oiler uses one on the eponymous Speed Racer towards the end of the Casa Cristo race. Speed uses the Mach 5's bulletproof windshield to foil this.

    Walther P38 
"It's called bringing the right tools for the job. This is Hitler's handgun, the Walther P-38 Herr Fuhrer used blow his brains out.note  Lifted it from another warlock type. Anyway, firing a silver bullet from something with this much negative mojo was enough to penetrate Strange's defenses."
Brigand on his captured P38, Doctor Strange: The Oath

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A 9x19mm pistol conceived for use by the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II as a replacement for the costly Luger P08 and eventually adopted as the Wehrmacht's new service pistol in 1941, 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, recocked the hammer, 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.

The main flaw of the P38 design is its long and heavy trigger pull, especially in double-action, which makes well-aimed shots, especially the first shot with the hammer down, rather difficult. For this reason, it has often been described as "good for eight warning shots and one aimed throw." If the trigger pull is mastered, however, it is capable of remarkable accuracy.

Following the war, the P38, as the P1, continued service as the sidearm of the (West) German Bundeswehr until upgraded versions of the USP9 began to phase it out in 1994.

  • Trivia: The P38 is probably the best real-life example of Right-Handed Left-Handed Guns. For reasons no one at Walther has been able to adequately explain, the P38 was designed with its ejector on the left side, rather than the right, meaning that empty casings would eject to the left, across the shooter's field of vision (assuming they were shooting right-handed).
  • 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.
  • 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 its 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 throughout the series.
  • Generation 1 Megatron was a Man From U.N.C.L.E. Walther P38 with barrel extension, stock and scope, which became his Fusion Cannon. Oddly though, the beam shot out of the scope, not the barrel.
  • Weapon 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 The 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.
  • Stretch the drug dealer in Harry Brown has a P38, which he is seen using as a crack pipe. This comes back to bite him in the ass, when he tries to fire it and it jams on him.
  • Used by Captain Marco in The Manchurian Candidate.
  • Major Reisman and Joseph Wladisaw use these guns as their sidearms when they infiltrate the German mansion in The Dirty Dozen.
  • Used infamously by the Scorpio Killer and a liquor store proprietor in Dirty Harry.
  • In Ishtar, the P38 is used by the Guerrilla leader and the secret police.
  • Indiana Jones makes use of it considering its typical pre-WWII setting:
    • Toht's sidearm in Raiders of the Lost Ark, also used by some other Germans, such as the pilot that takes potshots at Indy while he fights a mechanic. In reality, only hammerless prototypes for the P38 existed at the time of the film.
    • Indy uses it himself during the tank chase in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where it somehow manages to be a Hand Cannon and shoot through three Nazis at once, causing Indy to stare at his P38 in shock.
  • Seen many times in the classic series of Doctor Who.
  • Used by countless people in Mission: Impossible.
  • Appears in Battlefield 1942.
  • Seen in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, CoD3, and World at War as a replacement for the Luger from the earlier games; it's probably most notable in World at War due to an achievement in the first Soviet level for making a shot with it you're supposed to use a sniper rifle for. Steiner also briefly carries one in the flashback "Project Nova" level of Call of Duty: Black Ops, but doesn't fire it (at least, not on-screen or at the player).
  • The sidearm of choice of Panther Claw members (sometimes alongside the Nambu) in Cutey Honey.
  • Yoon Tae-goo (a.k.a. 'the Weird') wields a pair of P38s Guns Akimbo throughout The Good, The Bad, The Weird.
  • In Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, this is the weapon for Nazi mechanics, officers and scientists. Powell never gets to use one, he can only pick them up as 16-round ammo packs for his High Standard HDM or Colt 1911, despite neither being chambered for 9mm.note  Barnes, from the same game's Spearhead expansion, however, gets to use one during the Battle of the Bulge. Manon from Underground has a stolen P38 given to her by her brother as her first weapon. It also shows up frequently in the hands of Nazis in Frontline, with Jimmy getting to use one for the fifth mission, where it's much more accurate than the more common 1911 or Hi-Standard.
    • Medal of Honor (1999): Lt. Jimmy Patterson picks up this pistol during the second section of the third level, taking it from a German dock worker wielding it. In Medal of Honor: Underground, Manon uses this pistol throughout the entirely of the first level. Meanwhile, German Army and Waffen-SS officers, Gestapo officers and agents, the aforementioned dock workers, German scientists, archaeologists, and the occasional soldier wield this pistol as the standard-issue German sidearm.
  • Doctor Strange: The Oath — a nickel-plated P38, loaded with silver bullets and incorrectly identified as Hitler's suicide weapon, critically injures Doc. After being patched up, he uses it himself to kill a monster that his limitless magical powers couldn't faze.
  • The Siege of Jadotville. Falques carries one as his sidearm.
  • Day of Infamy features it as the most common sidearm for the German army, available to every class except the officer and sniper.
  • Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad features this gun as one of two sidearms for the Wehrmacht. Once fully leveled, the pistol grip is painted black.
  • Hell Let Loose: The P38 is one of two standard-issue pistols for the Wehrmacht faction, the other being the older Luger P08.

    Walther P5 
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Walther P5 Compact/L102A1

The Walther P5 is a semi-automatic pistol, first introduced in the 1970s. It was intended to replace older pistols in German police service with a safer modern weapon.

Designed on the same principles as their older P38, the P5 is a double-action/single-action recoil-operated weapon, with a locked breech. The barrel moves straight back upon firing, with no lateral movement, making it very accurate. As part of its improved safety features, it has a pivoting firing pin, which prevents the firing pin from moving forward unless the trigger is pulled.

Along with the standard P5, the smaller P5 Compact was also developed, with a shortened barrel and slide. A sporting variant with a longer barrel was also briefly produced.

    Walther P99 
"Ah, the new Walther. I asked Q to get me one of these."

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Designed in 1994 and beginning production in 1997, the Walther P99 is among the PPK as one of Walther's highest-selling and successful designs. Utilising a modified version of the Browning Hi-Power's recoil operation, a glassfiber-reinforced polymer frame and an internal striker, the P99 has been used by the German, Finnish, Irish, Malaysian, Polish, Spanish, Serbian, Turkish, Canadian (Montréal and Québec City) and Dutch police forces, and is popular with both civilians and target shooters. A huge amount of factory accessories are on offer as well, such as customised iron sights, grip extenders, laser modules, tactical lights and even a suppressor.

The P99 has seen many variants and modifications since its introduction. Originally, the first generation model had a distinctive grip featuring a "ski hump" and held 16 9x19mm rounds or 12 .40 S&W rounds in a magazine. The second generation, introduced in 2004, eliminated the 'ski hump' for a more comfortable grip and reduced the magazine capacity to 15 9x19mm rounds and 10 .40 S&W rounds. The P99 is also available in 4 different finishes-an all-black one, one with a titanium slide, one with a desert tan-slide and the original green polymer frame. Second-gen models also have different triggers, such as Anti-Stress, Double Action only and Quick Action.

Variants of the P99 include compact versions, the Polish P99 RAD (upgrades including an ambidextrous slide release lever), the German P99Q, the P22 and PK380 (smaller versions modified with external safeties and hammers, in respectively .22 LR and .380 ACP), the American Smith & Wesson SW99 (which features a noticeably different slide design, and is also available in .45 ACP), and the Magnum Research MR Eagle (featuring a slightly-longer barrel, with the portion of the front of the slide underneath it sloping back in the same manner as Magnum Research's Desert Eagle).

The P99's run finally came to an end after 26 years in 2023, with Walther releasing one last "Final Edition" of the pistol that year before discontinuing it.

  • The P99 is most famous for its use by James Bond as his PPK's replacement. It first appears in Tomorrow Never Dies, where Bond takes it from Wai Lin's armoury. He later fits it with a suppressor and dual-wields it with an MP5k during his assault on Carver's stealth boat, until it finally runs dry. The P99 then became Bond's sidearm until Quantum of Solace reunited Bond with his PPK.
    • The Literary Bond also made use of the P99 as well in Raymond Benson's run. The PPK was used for undercover wetwork, while the P99 was used for overt missions. It also appears in the Dynamite Comic series Vargr as his favourite sidearm until he's forced to replace it with a new gun, then gets his P99 back in the final issue.
    • Video games have had Bond paired with the P99 longer than the films, featuring it as Bond's standard pistol in The World Is Not Enough, NightFire, Goldeneye Rogue Agent, and the combined Casino Royale (2006)/Quantum of Solace adaptation, then keeping it on as his primary pistol in Blood Stone, GoldenEye (2010) and 007 Legends.
  • A suppressed model is used by Ms. Perkins in John Wick.
  • Carried by Lau in The Dark Knight.
  • Fittingly, Alex West wields one in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
  • Various armoured sweepers have one in their vest holsters in Equilibrium.
  • Seen in 7.62 High Calibre, and can be equipped with a flashlight or laser module.
  • Splinter Cell: Conviction has the .40 S&W version as a usable weapon.
  • The P99 is wielded by Mireille in Noir.
  • Selene dual wields a pair of two-tone P99s in Underworld (2003).
  • Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 adds the P99 in .40 S&W, making it mostly similar to the starting USP40 with a slightly smaller mag capacity in return for slightly better accuracy.
  • Jean Vilain in The Expendables 2 carries a gold plated version as his sidearm.
  • A two-tone variant of the P99 is usable in Modern Warfare 3. In the campaign it's used by Russian troops in the Paris levels, and Yuri gets one with a suppressor and a tactical knife when storming an old castle with Price. It's also an early unlock in multiplayer, having a slow time to switch out to the other weapon in return for the highest damage in close range of the smaller pistols.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R. features the P99 by the nickname Walker P9m. It's almost a direct upgrade to the Makarov and Fort-12, as it boasts a more powerful caliber, higher accuracy and much higher magazine capacity without any real drawbacks in weight, durability or recoil. In Shadow of Chernobyl one stalker carries a unique 9x18mm version, and in the later two games you can convert any P99 yourself, making it even more versatile. In all instances, it still falls short in firepower compared to the handguns in .45 ACP common in the late game stages.
  • Used by Morpheus to briefly threaten Agent Smith in The Matrix Reloaded.
  • A common find in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, under the name "Para-9". It replaces the Beretta 92FS Inox and the Makarov PM from the previous installments as the game's standard sidearm.
  • Available as the standard NATO sidearm in ARMA III, rechambered for 9x21mm as the "P07". It shows up in two-tone variations, the version in the base game having a black slide with tan frame and the Apex DLC letting CTRG 15 swap out for a green frame.
  • Enlarged variations of the P22 appear in Renegade X, the Fan Remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade; the standard version with a suppressor and 12-round magazines is the basic handgun, as simply the "Silenced Pistol", which can be replaced with either a "Machine Pistol" (which lengthens the barrel and slide and fits the weapon with 30-round magazines, a foregrip and collapsible stock, and a top rail with new sights attached) or a "Heavy Pistol" (which fits it with a compensator and reduces the capacity to 8 bullets, but increases its damage).
  • The P99 appears in Saints Row: The Third as the "KA-1 Kobra". It is the LE counterpart of the 45 Shepherd, and can be given a suppressor, a Laser Sight, extended mags, and armor-piercing rounds.
    • The Remastered version is a weird mishmash of the M&P, the Glock, and the P99. It's strangely modeled, as it has two extractors, the slide release on the right-hand side, and no mag-release.*
  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: This is the personal weapon of the Otherworlder ex-mercenary and paladin of the Ten Great Saints Glenda Attley, which she brought with her when she was summoned to the setting. Because it came with her during the magic cross-over, it absorbed magicules and evolved alongside her to the point it's become all but an extension of herself, no longer requiring any form of maintenance. It's an integral part of her Unique Skill [Sniper], which allows her to effectively fire her bullets into portals that then reappear to hit the target from any angle she wants while ignoring pesky physical barriers or even things like gravity and air resistance.

    Walther PP/PPK 
"Walther PPK, 7.65 millimeter, with a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window. The American CIA swear by them."
Major Boothroyd, Dr. No

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Top: Walther PP, Bottom: Walther 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. The small size forced the designers to use small calibers like the .22 LR 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. After the war, the PPK remained a popular concealed-carry pistol, with many taken as war trophies by Allied soldiers and helped influence countless pistol designs, such as the Makarov PM. Some PPKs saw use in The Vietnam War in the hands of American "tunnel rat" units, who liked it for its compact size.

The original PPK has been illegal for importation into the United States since 1968.note  American models are either the PPK/S (a PPK slide on a PP frame, which increases the size and weight just enough for it to pass restrictions), or were domestically assembled under license by Smith & Wesson. Original production by Walther ended in 2008, but demand in the United States remained high enough that S&W still made the licensed version until 2013. Finally, after five years out of production, Walther began to once again manufacture the PPK/S at their new plant in Arkansas with the original PPK to follow later in 2019. In the aftermath of World War II the PP/PPK design was highly influential, with many later handguns taking inspiration from it.

  • While not as often shown as Luger or the P38, both the PP and PPK tend to show up in World War II works as Nazis' sidearms. Most notably in Downfall (2004) and Valkyrie.
  • The most famous user is, of course, James Bond, who replaces his Beretta M1934 with a PPK chambered in 7.65mm (.32 ACP, although calibres varied depending on the actor - Connery, Dalton and Brosnan carried it in .32 ACP, while Lazenby, Moore and Craig opted for the .380 ACP version) in Dr. No. He uses this until replacing it with a Walther P99 in Tomorrow Never Dies, though as of Quantum of Solace Bond has returned to the PPK.note  In Skyfall, he is given a PPK with an ID lock so only he can fire it.
    • In the books, Bond originally wielded a suppressed .25 Beretta 418 until it got caught in his waistband and he was nearly killed as a result in From Russia with Love. In Dr. No he gets his iconic PPK, and while he's rather unhappy about losing his beloved Beretta (even threatening to resign from MI6), by Goldfinger he's accepted the PPK as his new (and arguably more sensible) sidearm. note 
    • Appears in GoldenEye (1997) as the default sidearm of Bond. It's a well-rounded weapon, dealing good damage and acting as a sensible fall-back weapon, equipped with a suppressor for certain missions. It also shows up in 007: From Russia with Love as the "Wolfram PP7."
    • Most parodies of Bond carry one as well.
  • 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.
  • In Noir, the Soldats High Priestesses use gold plated PPKs.
  • Fired Guns Akimbo by an old lady on a scooter in Hot Fuzz.
  • Bridget Von Hammersmarck and Archie Hickox both use one in the bar shootout 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 (2006).
  • In the anime film The Sky Crawlers one is carried by Kusanagi everywhere she goes as a sign of her mental instability.
  • Moira MacTaggart uses a PPK as her sidearm in X-Men: First Class.
  • Like James Bond, Sterling Archer prefers a PPK in .32 ACP. As he explains it:
    Archer: Chambered for the .32 ACP cartridge, my Walther has a magazine capacity of seven rounds, plus one in the chamber. And if whatever you're shooting doesn't die after you pump eight 32-caliber slugs into it, it's probably a dragon.
  • In Once Upon a Time Mister Gold uses a PPK in the episode "Skin Deep."
  • The Killer (1989): Ah Jong empties one into one of the bad guys attacking his apartment. It's drawn from his sleeve.
  • In Captain America: The First Avenger, Peggy Carter uses one. Not as implausible as it seems at first glance, since the PPK was introduced in 1931, before the Nazis even took power, and was available for export until the expansion of the German military and police led to domestic orders monopolizing Walther's production capacity. Also, Allied intelligence services stockpiled German weapons that were used by military and police forces for behind-the-lines operations, the idea being that being caught with a German-made gun wouldn't automatically peg one as a spy.
  • Harry Ioki in 21 Jump Street carries a PPK as his sidearm.
  • The stock Pistol in Team Fortress 2 heavily resembles a stainless PPK, with some hints of the Makarov PM that was loosely based on a proposed upgrade to the PPK. Ironically, it's used by the Scout and Engineer, but not the Spy, who wields a Colt Python instead.
  • A suppressed PPK is seen in the hands of four characters in The Bourne Identity, including Jason Bourne.
  • This is the Nazi collaborator's weapon used to shoot Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
  • Johnny English's primary weapon in Johnny English Reborn, and it seems to be the main sidearm of MI6.
  • Pops up frequently in the classic series of Doctor Who.
  • Found in Parasite Eve if you do the optional Warehouse dungeon. The gun provides the 1st Strike ability, and is the only gun with this ability in the normal playthrough.
  • Appears in PAYDAY 2 as the "Gruber Kurz", named after Hans Gruber, the villain of Die Hard, who used a PPK in the original script (the final film gave him an H&K P7M13); the obligatory Bond shout-out comes with its related "Licence to Kill" achievement, requiring you to kill 378 enemies in total with the gun, as many people as Bond had killed in the films up to Skyfall. By default, it's a PPK, but adding the long slide mod turns it into a PP.
  • Loads of mooks and allies, if not all of them, use the PPK in Tintin. In the 2011 movie, Tintin is shown to own a PPK, and arms himself when Barnaby arrives at his apartment building.
  • The Departed. Costigan carries a nickel plated PPK for the majority of the film, which makes a good fit for his undercover work.
  • The PP appears in BloodRayne as a Nazi sidearm under the name "Walthurm PP".
  • A PPK is the sidearm of one of the history news team members in the climatic fight scene of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
  • The PPK seems to be the standard sidearm for the 501st Joint Fighter Wing in Strike Witches, as Yoshika is issued one upon arriving (though she returns it owing to a dislike for guns) and Minna carries one often as well.
  • The Deliverer in Fallout 4 is a suppressed PPK with some alterations made by the Railroad, including chambering it in 10mm. It's also among the most powerful weapons in the game, being able to outperform the standard 10mm pistol in every aspect and, with the right perks and parts, let the Sole Survivor blow away Deathclaws with a few shots.
  • In Sherlock, Mary Watson's sidearm is a suppressed PPK, similar to the one pictured above. She also shoots Sherlock with it.
  • Used by Willis Stryker in Luke Cage (2016), who also dual-wields them.
  • The .32 ACP version appears in Day of Infamy as a sidearm for the Germany army's assault, support, radioman, engineer and sniper classes.
  • The Umbrella Academy. The Handler likes to take souvenirs from various eras that she has performed jobs in. One of these is Hitler's gun, which she proudly keeps in a display case. Naturally, it does end up being used.
  • Mr. Brooks: Mr. Brooks carries a stainless Walther PPK/S as his personal weapon whenever he kills. He typically equips it with a suppressor and ties a bag around the gun to catch spent shell casings.

    Welrod 
A silenced British pistol. Not much use in a fire fight, but perfect for picking of targets without being detected.
Description, Sniper Elite V2

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This British handgun is quite a mystery. It was conceived during World War II as a concealable and silent sidearm for use by resistance members, special forces operatives, and anyone else trying to keep a low profile.

There were two major variants. The first one is, oddly enough, the Mark II (chambered in .32 ACP, eight rounds per magazine), while the Mark I pictured here came later (chambered in 9mm, six rounds per mag). Other than the round chambered, the only differences between the two are the Mark I added a trigger guard and modified the suppressor so the front half could be unscrewed for concealment, moving the front sight to the middle of the weapon so it wouldn't lose zero. Some 2800 were made in total, used by the SOE, OSS and other resistance groups.

The pistol itself is bolt-action, the knob needing to be twisted to the left to unlock the bolt. The magazine was used as the handle for the weapon, with a rubber covering over it and a safety lever on the grip meant to keep it in place as the user held and aimed. Conversely, when the user was not using it, the magazine/handle could be removed to aid in concealing it. The majority of the barrel is an integrated suppressor, which, alongside being bolt-action (thus removing the noise of an automatic slide clacking back and forth), allowed the gun to fire very quietly. However, the baffles inside the suppressor were made of rubber and would quickly wear, meaning that while the gun would keep firing, it would lose its suppressed ability fairly quickly unless serviced.

There are some reports of the gun still being in active service, having seen use by British special forces in The Falklands War and The Gulf War.

The Swiss company Brügger & Thomet had developed a Spiritual Successor known as the B&T VP9, which is best summed up as a modern-day Welrod. Although the pistol is designed to be used putting down dangerous and wounded animals. In 2021, after many delays, this pistol finally became available for sale in the United States as the Station SIX in 9mm and .45 ACP.


Anime & Manga
  • Used briefly by Radinov in Gunsmith Cats OVA, to assassinate the chief of the Illinois branch ATF, who was working with her and her employer.

Films — Live-Action

  • A Welrod was shown in Gene's arsenal in Layer Cake.

Live-Action TV

  • Ulrich Kohl from one episode of Person of Interest was shown using a Mk I Welrod.
  • Fancy Lee uses the modern VP9 with some Abnormal Ammo (including a homing Tranquillizer Dart in the sixth episode) as his sidearm in Killjoys.
  • The Canadian Agents from X Company used the Mk II to assassinate French Gestapo agents.
  • The murderer in an Inspector Morse episode used one; in that case it was explained by him being a former SOE operative in WW2.

Video Games

  • Medal of Honor: Rising Sun featured this pistol in the Singapore Sling mission and multiplayer. It is inaccurately portrayed as a single-shot weapon (the model used is the Mk II, which holds eight rounds per magazine) with the power and accuracy of a sniper rifle (the real gun's max range was 23 meters, less than half the effective range of a non-silenced handgun, and used pistol bullets slowed considerably - thus reducing stopping power - to make them quieter).
  • Sniper Elite V2 features the Mk I with the front sight shifted forward as one of the player's default weapons from the start of the game, and the only silenced weapon available. Accuracy at even medium range is sub-par, however, as is ammo scavenged from enemies — this game's all about the long-range rifle kills. It comes back in Sniper Elite III, Sniper Elite 4, and Sniper Elite 5 with largely the same characteristics, with the sole exception of an increase in capacity from 6 to 8 rounds, effectively making it a Mk II with an added trigger guard. 5 gives it further upgrades, which allow it to either be even quieter or fire more powerful shots at the cost of being slightly noisier.
  • Day of Infamy gives the Commonwealth Officers and Snipers the ability to arm themselves with the Mk II Welrod as a sidearm. Because of its slow rate of fire, it's not ideal for a direct confrontation against the enemy, but rather to take them by surprise.
  • The Mark II version is available in Girls' Frontline as a 5-star T-Doll. Widely regarded as one of the best evasion tanks in the game, owing to her incredible evasion stat and skill that reduces enemy accuracy. True to her origins, she behaves like a movie secret agent, to the point of trying too hard.
  • The Mk II was added to Insurgency: Sandstorm with the Nightfall update, available to the Insurgents for free. Despite being the MK II, it is chambered in 9x19mm like the MK I.
  • A hybrid of the Mk I and II was added to Battlefield V with it's final update. It is powerful and silent, but slow-firing due to it's bolt action.
  • The Mark IIA was added to Hot Dogs Horseshoes And Handgrenades on day 13 of the Meatmas 2020 Advent Calendar event. The game accurately depicts its use of replaceable wipes that degrade with use by having the firing sound change and model of the baffles becoming more visibly worn the more it's used, with the wipes being able to be replaced with fresh ones by removing the suppressor and pulling out the old stack.
  • The Mark II appears in the Vietnam-themed DLC S.O.G. Prairie Fire for ARMA III.

    Wildey 

"Wildey's here. Fires a .475 Wildey magnum. Real stopping power."
Paul Kersey, Death Wish 3

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First introduced in 1973, the Wildey was one of the first gas-operated handguns. Intended primarily for hunting, it is designed to handle a variety of high-velocity, high-pressure rounds, including the 9mm and .45 Winchester Magnum, the .44 Auto Mag (from the Auto Mag pistol), and the .357, .41, .44, .45, and .475 Wildey Magnum rounds note . Similarly to the Auto Mag also mentioned on this page, the Wildey features a distinctive ribbed, ventilated barrel, which is capable of mounting scopes, and is fed by 7 or 8-round magazines. The weapon is capable of changing calibers easily.


Anime & Manga
  • Brandon Heat uses one with a long barrel in the anime adaptation of Gungrave with custom "D-type" bullets to fight off Orcmen near the end of the first half, where it's presented as having enough recoil to push him back and hurt his arm.

Comic Books

  • One of Madame Masque's weapons of choice in Iron Man is a revolver chambered in .475 Wildey Magnum.

Films — Live-Action

Live-Action TV

  • Lund carries one in the Firefly episode "The Train Job".

Video Games

  • It was supposed to appear in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, but was cut, though it can still be found within the game's files. It is mistakenly referred to as a Colt 1911, and the developers apparently mistook the long ribbed barrel for an integral suppressor.
  • A scoped variant is featured in Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009.

    Yarygin PYa / MP-443 Grach 
Designed to replace the dated PMM pistol, the MP443 Grach pistol was developed in 1993 and fires high powered armor-piercing 9mm Russian rounds. The pistol is a combined construction of polymers and steel and has been adopted by select Special Forces units in the Russian military.
Description, Battlefield 3

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A Russian pistol developed in 1993 by Izhmekh (aka Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, hence the MP designation) for Russian military trials. It was adopted as the PYa in 2003 and was issued in small numbers to special forces units in the North Caucasus in 2008. In 2011, it entered mass production, and is now the standard sidearm of the Russian army, replacing the earlier Makarov PM, and is also in use with Kazakh private security companies. It uses the 9x19mm 7N21 cartridge, a Russian-made armor piercing variant of the 9mm round, but is also compatible with standard 9mm ammo. A civilian variant with a barrel weakened to prevent usage of the 7N21 cartridge, known as the MP-446 Viking, is also produced by Izhevsk, in both the original version and a competition variant updated to comply with IPSC regulations (including an adjustable trigger and sights and the ability to use a longer barrel); there are also less-lethal variants designed to fire rubber bullets, the MP-353 and MP-472. Among the Russian military, this gun seems to enjoy the same dubious reputation that the early M16 and Beretta M9 did in the U.S. armed forces: early production models were very unreliable, with many operators preferring to ditch it in favor of more proven designs like the Makarov PM or the OTs-27 Berdysh. The PYa has been modified several times since its inception and the problems with it have been mostly remedied, but its reputation of unreliability is still hard to shake off, especially among the Russian special forces community.
Video Games
  • Standard sidearm of the Russian Army in Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 4.
  • The standard sidearm of SVER in MAG.
  • Appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts, where in single-player and multi-player mode is semi-auto, but in Extinction mode it fires full-auto. It returns in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, now firing two-round bursts.
  • Appears incorrectly as the Tariq in the 2010 reboot of Medal of Honor, the Opfor's standard sidearm. In reality, the Tariq is an Iraqi copy of the Beretta M951, the single-stack predecessor to the Beretta 92.
  • The civilian variant, the MP-446, appears as a usable sidearm in Splinter Cell: Conviction.
  • A variant rechambered for 9x21mm ammo appears as the standard sidearm for CSAT forces in ARMA III, under the name "Rook 40".
  • Appears as the "MP-40 Grad" in Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3. It returns in Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts as the IMP-443.
  • The MP-443 is a usable weapon in Contract Wars.
  • Both the military and civilian versions appear in Girls' Frontline, the Viking as a regularly-produced two-star T-Doll (with its Competition Barrel as an exclusive equipment) and the Grach as a three-star one acquired through login rewards or event drops. Possibly owing to their ability to use overpressure versions of the 9mm cartridge, their maximum damage slightly surpasses most other handgun T-Dolls.
    • AK-15 also carries an MP-443 as her sidearm according to some character art, though given the way the game works she doesn't use it in-game.
  • The standard-issue sidearm of the Russian Ground Forces in Squad.
  • Appears in Escape from Tarkov, where it can be fitted with underbarrel attachments, but not suppressed. BEAR PMCs receive one in their stash in the latest patch, and Scavs can also spawn with it.
  • Appears in Warface, where it is fitted with an unusable Zenit B-8 accessory rail and can be fitted with the standard muzzle attachments. It has unique animations for entering and exiting the customization menu, where the player character will engage/disengage the safety lever and cock/uncock the hammer respectively.
  • Appears as the Pistolet Jarygina in Survarium, where it can modified with a red dot sight and silencer.

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