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This page is for popular firearms or similar weapons used in conjunction with them that don't really fit into any above firearm category, including air guns, crossbows, tasers, etc.


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    Air Guns 
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Top: Crossman 2240 CO2 pistol, Bottom: Daisy Red Ryder BB gun
First developed in the 1500s, air guns use spring-piston, pneumatic or bottled compressed gas (typically carbon dioxide) mechanisms to fire projectiles, including pellets, BB plastic projectiles, arrows and darts, unlike regular firearms which use combustible propellants. Air guns were used for hunting, sporting and warfare, possessing numerous advantages over the muskets and other muzzle-loading firearms of their time, including being able to be fired in wet weather and rain, being able to fire much faster, being quieter, having no muzzle flash and being smokeless. Snipers particularly liked air guns, and France, Austria and other nations had special sniper detachments using air rifles. Probably the most famous example of an air gun is the Holy Roman Girandoni/WindbĂĽchse air rifle, developed in 1768 or 1769, which a skilled shooter could fire off one magazine in about thirty seconds, and the ammunition could penetrate an inch thick wooden board at a hundred paces, an effect roughly equal to that of a modern 9x19mm or .45 ACP caliber pistol. The Challenger, Chicago and King models were also popular, formerly made by W.F. Markham Co/King Mfg. Co. Nowadays, air guns are used for hunting, pest control, recreational shooting, and competitive sports, such as the Olympic 10 m Air Rifle and 10 m Air Pistol events. Also, the rise of Airsoft has led to a proliferation in airguns that strongly resemble a variety of real life firearms, with weapons based on the AR-15, 1911, Glock and Desert Eagle being among the most popular.
  • BSA Scorpions loaded with tranquilizer darts are used by Octopussy and her team in Octopussy to fight off Kamal Khan's men.
  • The Theed Arms Security S-5 Heavy Blaster Pistols in The Phantom Menace are based on the Feinwerkbau C55 Model Air Gun.
  • Palmer Cap-Chur Short Range Projectors are used by Bond and Kisch in Goldfinger, the former firing a grappling hook from it and the latter firing a tranquilizer dart from it.
  • Private Scarpelli and the "Marine That Dies" in The Rock both dual-wield Palmer Cap-Chur Short Range Projectors during the infiltration of the base housing VX.
  • Drake uses a Pneu Dart Model 179B CO2 Pistol with tranquilizer darts in the opening mission of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to knock out guards.
  • Several hunters in The Lost World: Jurassic Park use the Dan Inject Model JM, most notably Dieter. Anschutz 1913 Super Match rifles in .22 Long Rifle are also mocked up as the "Lindstradt air rifle", which is claimed to fire darts filled with a neurotoxin that acts so quickly that anything hit with it is down before they even feel the dart hitting them.
  • Crazy Earl carries a Daisy Red Ryder in addition to his M16 in Full Metal Jacket.
  • The Red Ryder is usable in Fallout, and is the first weapon you acquire in Fallout 3. A unique variant called the Abilene Kid LE BB Gun is obtainable in Fallout: New Vegas, possessing very high Critical Hit damage that, with the right perks, puts it on par with a Sniper Rifle. The critical chance multiplier is not amazing and base damage is pathetic, so it's not a weapon for shootouts. It's much better used as a stealth gun, as it's classified as silent and a shot at an unaware enemy is an automatic crit.
  • In Fallout: Nuka Break Tim wields a Red Ryder against the invading Legionnaires.
  • Hitman: Blood Money allows you to collect and use a Beeman Break Barrel loaded with tranquilizer darts called the Air Rifle, found in a treehouse in "A New Life". While it does allow you to non-lethally KO people and animals from long-range, it only holds 3 shots, so its use is limited.
  • Hitman 2 adds several air pistols as non lethal firearms as the Kalmer (sedative) and Sieker (emetic) pistols.
  • The central plot of A Christmas Story was Ralphie wanting to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, despite everyone's warning that he'd shoot his eye out. The model was, at least at the time, either somewhat fictional or just a case of misnaming, since the details Ralphie went into great detail describing, such as the sundial and compass in the stock, were actually part of the Buck Jones model; later Red Ryder models would include these Buck Jones features because of the movie's popularity.
  • Trainspotting has Renton use a Westlake .22 air rifle to shoot a dog in the testicles, causing him to attack his owner. The scene is adapted from a similar scene from the original book, except it was Sick Boy who took the shot.
    Sick Boy: For a vegetarian, Rents, you're a fuckin' EVIL shot!
  • Sean Connery famously posed with a Walther LP-53 air pistol for the poster for From Russia with Love. Apparently, it was photographer David Hurn's own personal weapon which he provided when a prop PPK didn't turn up for the shoot.
  • Home Alone. Kevin takes Buzz's pump action BB gun and uses it to shoot Marv in the face, as well as to shoot Harry between the legs.
  • In True Lies, Simon owns a Daisy Model 93, a CO2-powered airgun based on the S&W Model 659.
  • The Tranquilizer Rifle of Far Cry 2 is somewhat inspired by the Pneu-Dart Model 389, a Remington 700-inspired tranquilizer rifle that propels its projectiles via .22-caliber blank cartridges; the in-game weapon is further modified to more closely resemble a Remington 700 derivative, though with sound effects and its animation for clearing jams indicating it's still CO2-powered.
  • Mr. Bean is shown to own a Webley Tempest air gun in "Goodnight Mr. Bean", using it to shoot a light bulb to turn out the lights. He keeps it in his night table filled with spare bulbs.
  • Shay Cormac carries an air rifle based on the Girandoni Air Rifle. In universe, it's a Templar prototype and fires tranquiliser, berserk, and flare darts. It also gets fitted with a prototype underslung grenade launcher developed by Benjamin Franklin, which itself fires a similar variety of grenades.
  • In Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels Charles uses a Westlake .22 Air Rifle in an attempt to fend off Dog and Plank when they invade his drug den.
  • The Metro 2033 series has featured in all installments the Tihar/Tikhar/Тихарь, essentially a makeshift semi-automatic Girandoni with a lever hand pump system, chambered in 16mm ball bearings. The Tihar is silent (even more silent than a firearm with a suppressor), exceptionally accurate and potent per shot when fully pumped, but several shots in quick succession drop the pressure quickly and cause the bearings to reach less far and deal less damage, so it's not a weapon for firefights; rather, it's best used to pick off lone targets from stealthy positions where the player can make sure the weapon is pumped to optimal levels.
    • In the original 2033, it's exceptionally viable thanks to the ammo availability: one MGR can buy eight bearings, the most in the game, and ammo reserve has no cap, so it's trivially easy to pick one up very early on after leaving Riga and purchasing a truckload of ammo for it in the Market two levels later. There are a few drawbacks, however: it's hard-coded to take up the shotgun slot, so if you have it you have no close range options save for mag-dumping your automatic in the enemy's face; the scoped version's lenses are smudged and cracked, making it harder to use than iron sights; the armor system is wonky and shooting an enemy may result in only minor damage as a loose bit of gear like an ammo pouch stops the bearing; and finally, there's no airtight valve upgrade, so it'll always leak any overpressurised air that isn't used to shoot.
    • Metro: Last Light re-balances the Tikhar, and it carries over into the Redux versions of it and 2033. The unlimited ammo reserve is gone, restricting the amount of bearings that can be carried at any given time to 60, including those in the weapon; the price of bearings is raised to 10 bearings per 8 MGR'snote ; and with the new gun customization system in shops, it's easy and cheap to pick up a silencer for the revolver or rifle. As such the Tikhar faces stiff competition as a suppressed weapon. On the other hand, it's still one of the strongest silenced guns in the game when properly pumped, it reliably kills anything weaker than a Demon in one headshot (helmets be damned), and it's not restricted to a specific slot so you can have it, say, with a shotgun as backup for uncomfortably close ranges. The accessory system also works in its favor: a Laser Sight negates the difficulty of firing single shots from the hip, and an airtight valve allows the player to always have it overpressurised. It looks cleaner and more polished as well.
    • In Metro Exodus, the third game, its usefulness is a middle ground between the previous examples; most of the features and accessories from Last Light still apply, but it's one of the (if not the) first silenced weapons available and one of the most powerful as well, and the only weapon Artyom can craft ammo for on the go (without needing to stop at a workbench), and cheaply as well at 1 bearing per 1 piece of scrap metal and no chemical cost. The gunsmith in Artyom's party invents incendiary capsules for it around mid-game; these are some of the most expensive crafts in the game (at 40 scrap and 40 chemicals for 10 capsules) and each capsule takes up the room of three ball bearings in the magazine, but they are a One-Hit Kill on small mutants and unarmored humans no matter where they hit, and a few shots can take down even a fully armored Gatling bearer.

    Captive bolt pistols 
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The captive bolt pistol is something of an odd duck among guns. Designed in 1903 by German slaughterhouse director Hugo Heiss, this gun is designed to slaughter animals at very close range. The barrel is placed against the target, and a pull of the trigger forces a pointed rod, a mushroom-shaped bolt, or a cartridge straight through it, depending on the design. A captive bolt pistol in fiction is invariably of the penetrating variety, even though such models have been long displaced in common use by blunt force types.

    Crossbows 
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Top: Crossbow with stock, Bottom: Crossbow with pistol grip

Dating back to 4th century BC China, the Crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Medieval Era that shoots bolts (shorter, stiffer and heavier arrows) and is still seeing use to this day, even with the introduction of conventional firearms. It first came to Europe in 5th century BC Greece with the gastraphetes (Belly shooter), which was powered by a composite bow and was cocked by resting the stomach in a concavity at the rear of the stock and pressing down with all strength. In this way, considerably more energy can be summoned up than by using only one arm of the archer as in the hand-bow. The crossbow replaced the hand bow as the ranged weapon of choice in many European armies in the 12th century, and crossbowmen occupied a central position in battle formations, usually engaging enemies in offensive skirmishes before an assault of mounted knights, also being valued in counterattacks. The commanding officer of the crossbowmen corps was one of the highest positions in any army of the time, and crossbows were also one of the weapons of choice of insurgent peasants. Crossbows also saw use by Islamic armies in the Middle East and Southern Europe as well as scouts and hunters in West and Central Africa. Many variants of crossbow exist, including the recurve crossbow, which has tips curving away from the archer, the compound crossbow, which has much stiffer limbs than a recurve crossbow, and the repeating crossbow, which automated the separate actions of stringing the bow, placing the projectile and shooting.

While crossbows generally fell out of mainstream use with the introduction of conventional firearms, they still see use with hunters and special forces today, due to being much quieter than traditional firearms, being very psychologically effective and able to load a wide variety of unconventional bolts (including cyanide-tipped bolts and grappling hooks) without having to worry about pressure curves or perfectly matching the bolt to the crossbow, as well as by archers in shooting sports and bowhunting and scientists for blubber biopsy. The Brazilian, Chinese and Peruvian armies also use crossbows, and the Chinese police use them to take down suicide bombers without risk of detonation, since the impact of a crossbow bolt applies less shock than the impact of a bullet, thus less likely to set off their explosives. Crossbows also tend to be less heavily regulated than standard firearms in countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, and are extremely popular for hunting in those countries, with some jurisdictions even have bow and/or crossbow only seasons. Crossbows today either come with a traditional stock or a pistol grip.

Note: Examples should be of single-shot crossbows that require a nock-and-cock after each shot. If a crossbow is capable of repeating shots between reloads, those should be posted to Automatic Crossbows.


  • Cool Ammunition: Just like with bows and their Trick Arrows, crossbows have Trick Bolts, some of the most common ones being either tranquilizers, poisoned and many more, even explosive bolts.
  • The third secondary weapon for the Scout in Deep Rock Galactic is the Nishanka Boltshark X-80, a versatile modern crossbow built especially to fire a wide range of specialized bolts. It has a secondary ammo pool of bolts for its wide range of bolt variants, from a bolt filled with a mixture of pheromones to make enemies attack the one struck, a bolt filled with a volatile chemical that causes the afflicted enemy to explode, and finally a taser bolt that electrocutes enemies and can even arc to other taser bolts. And thats not even getting into all the overclocks that drastically change the primary bolts as well.
  • In War for the Planet of the Apes, Preacher uses a Parker Hurricane XXT crossbow in the battle of Muir Woods, then loses it and uses a Parker Blackhawk crossbow for the rest of the film, and shoots Caesar with it.
  • Van Zan and Quinn in Reign of Fire use crossbows armed with exploding arrows against dragons.
  • Melina in For Your Eyes Only uses crossbows, starting off with a Barnett Commando and later using the Barnett Wildcat.
  • Some of Duke's thugs in Escape from New York use crossbows, most notably when Plissken is shot in the leg by one.
  • One of the most effective weapons in the Wasteland in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Because of the lack of guns (Max and the Lord Humungous are the only two characters actually wielding firearms, albeit with little to no ammo), the crossbow is mechanically simpler, has ammunition apparently readily available or at least easily improvised, which also has the advantage of being reusable. Wez has a wrist mounted crossbow, which he uses to shoot a running rabbit as a demonstration of the raiders' power.
  • In the second season finale of Psycho-Pass, rogue Inspector Shisui uses a crossbow to fight off Division 1 after having exhausted her Dominator's energy supply. Ginoza is able to block several bolts thanks to his prosthetic arm.
  • Splinter Cell: Blacklist has a crossbow as a special weapon, acting as the game's equivalent of the SC-20K launcher from the first four Splinter Cell games, being able to fire sticky shocker, knockout gas, noisemaker and EMP bolts. A grey camouflaged version of it, the Compound Crossbow, can be unlocked with the Digital Deluxe version of the game, and a version with Sticky Shocker bolts only, the Stun Crossbow, is usable by the Spy in Spies Vs Mercs.
  • A crossbow can be collected and used in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, found in "Hidden Valley". It is silent and has a scope, but does very little damage unless the target is hit with a headshot, and only holds one bolt at a time.
  • The Fear uses a pair of crossbows with poisoned bolts in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, getting a shot in on Naked Snake before his battle and requiring Snake to treat it immediately.
  • Some enemies in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 use crossbows with flaming bolts. Crossbows also serve as Ada Wong's heavy weapons in her scenario "Separate Ways" in RE4 and her mini-campaign in Resident Evil 6. In RE4, her crossbow is exclusively equipped with explosive bolts, while in RE6 she has the choice of using either regular bolts (that are strong enough to nail enemies to walls) or pipe bomb bolts. The same weapon is also used by Sherry in that game's Mercenaries Mode. The RE6 crossbow has an automatic recocking system but Ada/Sherry must place a new bolt in place for every shot. Claire also obtains a crossbow in both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. It's fairly weak on its own, but the former fires 3 bolts at once and the latter can use explosive-tipped bolts. Both crossbows also have the advantage of being quiet weapons and having a limited homing ability (...somehow).
  • Crossbows are used by Aztec Warriors and High Priests in the Aztec level of TimeSplitters 2, and are also available in multiplayer in that game. The bolts can be ignited with torches in the Aztec level to increase damage and burn beehives and Wood Golems, and can be recovered and reused from enemies you kill them with or walls they hit.
  • The Big Joe 5 crossbow (a crossbow originally developed for the OSS for assassinations) is usable in Medal of Honor: Underground in mission 4, Wewelsburg: Dark Camelot, as well as multiplayer. It is extremely powerful (Though the damage is weakened in multiplayer), but takes a very long time to reload, ammunition is scarce and it can't be used as a melee weapon unlike most other weapons in the game.
  • Crossbows show up as the typical sniper-rifle equivalent in the Half-Life games. A tranquilizer version appears in the first Half-Life, doing lots of damage with each hit. Half-Life 2 has a jury-rigged crossbow that fires superheated rebar bolts. Both crossbows are something of a cross between a regular single-shot crossbow and an automatic one - the first game's crossbow feeds from a detachable magazine with a five shot capacity, although it has to be manually recocked between shots, while the second game's crossbow has an automatic recocking system but Gordon has to load a new bolt in place after every shot.
  • Crossbows are usable in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, being the second Special weapon unlocked in the former and the first secondary Special weapon in the latter. In the campaign of the former, it is usable with normal bolts in addition to explosive ones and one is used to fire a grappling hook, but it is restricted to explosive bolts in multiplayer and in II. It is also the default weapon for the Sticks and Stones mode of the latter's multiplayer. The first game and the flashback campaign missions of the second make use of a single-shot crossbow, while the main setting of the second uses a pump-action one that holds three bolts at a time, including a "Tri-Shot" attachment to fire all three at once.
  • A crossbow made of a broken HK417 is added to Battlefield 3 with the Aftermath DLC as a new unlockable gadget, the "XBOW". Battlefield 1 has the Grenade Crossbow for the support class, which, as the name implies, fires grenades instead of bolts.
  • A curious example in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: the crossbows at the end of the game are single-shot weapons for Nate, but they are automatic when the Guardians use them.
  • A pair of medieval crossbows are available in PAYDAY 2, added as part of a crossover with Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. In addition to standard ammunition, they can fire incendiary or explosive bolts as well. The Light Crossbow has a rather fast reload, the Heavy Crossbow not so much as its reload involves wrapping a rope around a wheel to cock the string. A pistol crossbow is also available as a secondary weapon with the Gage Ninja Pack DLC, being a one-handed pistol-gripped crossbow, which is weaker due to its smaller size, but reloads faster.
  • Paul and Roberto can find and use crossbows in their chapters of Eternal Darkness. Useful for killing Trappers, but not much else due to only holding one shot at a time and having a long reload, and is the only projectile weapon that Bonethieves can't block the shots of.
  • Gregg owns one in Night in the Woods. It's revealed that it was given to him for hunting purposes; he never really was interested in hunting, but kept the crossbow anyway because he thought it was cool. In one of his hangouts with Mae, he lets her use it to fire at some kind of weird owl-deer statue thing for target practice, which they moniker as "The Forest God". He uses it again in the fourth chapter, against Eide, but is forced to drop it when Eide's allies from The Cult have him at gunpoint. The Weird Autumn Update also introduces Gregg's cousin Jen, who also owns one.
  • The Crossbow from Player Unknowns Battlegrounds: a Difficult, but Awesome weapon once you know how to use it.
  • Crossbows are a perennial staple of the Sharpshooter perk in the Killing Floor games. In the first game, it was infamous for a long time for its high power compared to its relatively low price, its status as the most powerful weapon high-level Sharpshooters can spawn with, and the fact that it sold for and could be bought for the same price, though its price was eventually reworked to balance it (its buy price was doubled to 800, while its sell cost was increased to 600 - except for Sharpshooters that spawn with it, who can now only sell it for 250 like all other spawn-with weapons). The weapon itself is pump-action, to save the user some time from pulling back on the string. There's also the "Buzzsaw Bow" as a weapon for The Berserker, which launches buzzsaw blades instead of regular bolts to give them a ranged option.
    • Killing Floor 2 makes the standard crossbow weaker and less accurate in favor of buffing the M14 and making the new Railgun the perk's Infinity +1 Sword. Berserker meanwhile gets the "Eviscerator", which is essentially the old Buzzsaw Bow mixed with the chainsaw.
  • The special weapon added with the Fortune Pack DLC for Far Cry 2 is a scoped crossbow fitted with explosive bolts. Its projectiles are much slower than the rocket-propelled grenades fired by the RPG-7 and Carl Gustav, but in return the weapon itself is quiet, and they follow a long parabolic trajectory rather than going straight for a while before immediately dropping off (the RPG-7) or just detonating at their maximum range (the Carl Gustav). Plus, like the other weapons in the DLC, you don't have to actually purchase them in-game with diamonds - a crate of them is just plopped in the middle of the armory for your use, even from the beginning of the game, once you own the DLC. Far Cry 4 features an automatic crossbow as well, built out of a PP-19 Bizon, which is smaller and weaker than the regular Hunter or Recurve Bows, but is noticeably faster and usable in more situations, since it's classified as a sidearm and can as such be used with one hand in several situations.
  • Deus Ex
    • A wrist-mounted mini-crossbow is a weapon available in the first game. It fires three types of dart; Standard, Tranquiliser and Flare. It's especially useful for stealth-oriented non-lethal players, as tranq darts are the only way to deliver a Non-Lethal K.O. from a distance.
    • A more traditional crossbow using standard bolts is available in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, being a silent, powerful weapon that can kill most enemies in the game with a single shot, pin targets to walls, take out multiple targets in a single shot and fired bolts can be retrieved and reused if they haven't broken, but ammo is hard to find for it and it has to be reloaded after every shot.
  • Geralt uses one in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that Vesemir gives him after winning it in a card game. It's noted that it's not a traditional witcher weapon and Geralt can make use of several bolt types for a variety of purposes. It's not all that powerful unless the player takes several upgrades in the main game and a mutation in the Blood And Wine expansion. Even without upgrades, it can still be used as an alternative to the Aard sign to take weaker flying enemies out of the sky and is significantly more effective underwater against drowners and sirens.
  • The Wookiees' favorite weapon throughout the Star Wars series is the Bowcaster, which is something of a cross between a regular blaster and a "slugthrower" (firing physical projectiles that are sheathed in a form of energy to make them more powerful). Chewbacca's in particular, which was built out of a stolen stormtrooper rifle, is shown to be a deadly weapon in Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
  • The Syphon Filter series sometimes gives you a Crossbow to work with in stealth missions, where the darts serve as tranquilizers, though a dart in the head will still kill.
  • Contagion features a scoped crossbow as the first arrow-based weapon ever introduced. If you take the time to master the arrow drop and placement over distances, it's a very good stealthy weapon even against riot zombies. Curiously, its reload has no sounds of nocking the arrow or setting the string, unlike the compound bow.
  • The Agony and Warden Crossbows from the The Evil Within games are the most versatile weapons available to Sebastian. Unlike all other weapons, ammo for them is craftable and they're not very noisy, which comes in handy especially with the Warden in the second game.

    Flare Guns 
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Top: Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk III* Signal Pistol, Bottom: Orion Flare Gun and flares
Developed primarily for emergencies, Flare Guns, as the name suggests, launch flares. They are typically used to send distress signals by launching the flare straight up into the air, making the signal visible for a longer period of time and revealing the position of whoever is in need of assistance, though they can also be used for illumination purposes. While not intended for combat, they have been used as weapons in the World Wars and Korean War, and the Germans unsuccessfully attempted to convert their Leuchtpistole flare guns into a grenade launcher called the Kampfpistole/Sturmpistole. Most flare guns are of a Very type, which are breech-loaded with a single action trigger mechanism, hammer action, and center fire pin, and are typically single-shot, but variants with multiple barrels exist. Four types of ammunition exist for flare guns: 12-gauge, 25mm, 26.5mm, and 37mm, and different types of flare guns are available, including parachute flares and distress flares. Of the flare gun models, the most popular are the Orion Flare Gun, typically with its distinguishable bright red plastic finish, and the Webley & Scott Signal Pistol series, with the No. 1 Mk III being the most prominent with its brass frame and barrel, and seeing use with the British, Canadian and Australian militaries in the World Wars.
  • The Joker uses a Krieghoff Model L to shoot his TV in Batman (1989) before giving it to Bob.
  • A Webley & Scott Mk III is available in Forgotten Hope 2 to New Zealand LRDG Commandos in Operation Hyacinth.
  • The Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk. III* Signal Pistol is usable by the Scout in Battlefield 1, being able spot enemies close to them or blind them, and can also set enemies on fire with a direct hit or if they run over it.
  • An LP-42 is available in Velvet Assassin. It is considered a silenced weapon and can be used to distract enemies or set them on fire, but only appears in a few missions, often well-hidden.
  • The Leuchtpistole is available in Sniper Elite 4 to the player and German radio operators to call in airstrikes.
  • Angel Ortiz uses a Heckler & Koch P2A1 Flare Pistol in Resident Evil: Afterlife
  • Captain Graham uses a Heckler & Koch P2A1 Flare Pistol in Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen to mark the location of the NEST forces and the Autobots for Sam.
  • The Pyro's Flare Gun and Detonator in Team Fortress 2 are modeled on the Orion Flare Gun with the latching mechanism of an M8. Another, seemingly fictional flare gun with a grey and orange finish is available to the Pyro as the Scorch Shot.
  • One of the cut weapons in Half-Life 2 is a double-action Orion Flare Gun with a white and blue finish.
  • Dr. Alan Grant uses an older version of the Orion Flare Gun, the Olin Flare Gun, in Jurassic Park III to ignite the boat fuel around the Spinosaurus when it attacks his group in the water, temporarily driving it off.
  • The Orion was added to Grand Theft Auto V with the Heists Update. It is able to set enemies on fire, and can be used to redirect heat seeker missiles.
  • The Orion appears in Alan Wake as the game's equivalent of a rocket launcher, usually killing groups of possessed enemies that are caught in the wide-ranged explosion in one hit, but is typically only found in hidden chests and is limited to ten flares. It returns in American Nightmare, though is much weaker than in the original game.
  • The Webley & Scott No. 4 Mk. I signal pistol is available in Far Cry 2, used by enemies to call reinforcements and the player to start fires at a distance (though also able to distract enemies by firing it in the air, who will investigate it like a call for reinforcements), sharing ammo with the Flamethrower and molotovs. Far Cry 3 replaces it with a gold-colored Orion Flare Gun which kills enemies and animals instantly if the flare hits them directly, also being able to do heavy damage to vehicles it hits, with a Japanese Type 10 flare gun (specifically one of the very rare early models with a manual safety) converted to fire shotgun shells also being available in multiplayer with one of the pre-order bonus packs. A regular Type 10 replaces the Orion as the flare gun in Far Cry 4, lacking the direct-hit power of the Orion in the previous game but still good for starting fires at a distance.
  • An Orion flare gun is available in Ghost Recon Wildlands as an unlockable skill in the Item skill tree, where it can be used to attract enemies.
  • The Lonesome Road DLC of Fallout: New Vegas adds a slightly modified Brescia Model 00 as the Flare Gun, used by Marked Men. While it is weak damage-wise, it startles abominations that are hit with it, causing them to temporarily run away from you instead of attacking you. Very useful against the level-scaling Deathclaws that appear in the DLC.
  • Flare guns are a common weapon in the Blood games. In the first game a generic conglomerate of various pre-WWII models acts as a replacement for a normal pistol, while in the latter a fictional, futuristic one with an eight-flare cylinder serves as a brighter and more powerful but slower alternative to the pistol you start with.
  • In Mad Max: Fury Road when Max is confiscating all the weapons in Furiosa's War Rig, one of them is a Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk. III* Signal Pistol. It becomes useful during the fight against the Rock Riders - Furiosa shoots a biker in the face with one, causing him to lose his balance and fall under the wheels of the rig. The flare gun is a variant that bursts into brightly coloured powder designed to be visible in bright daylight.
  • In Tremors, an M8 flare pistol is one of the many weapons used by Burt and Heather Gummer on the Graboid that smashes into their underground "rec room".
  • An M8 briefly appears in the climactic "Suffer With Me" flashback mission of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, where the first sentry Frank attempts to silently dispatch pulls one out and fires it off to alert everybody, regardless of whether the player presses the button to throw a knife at him in time.
  • Deadfall Adventures features the Walther Model SLD, a double-barreled flare gun, converted to fire shotshells as a sidearm.
  • The Unreal Tournament 2004 mod Ballistic Weapons features the BORT-85, a fictional model vaguely resembling an upsized Orion. It can be used with flares, which travel in a realistic arc and set things and people on fire when they hit, or loaded up with grenades, which drop off much faster and explode on impact with much more immediate power.
  • A flare gun appears in Timesplitters: Future Perfect as a usable weapon, most notably used by Cortez in the intro of "Scotland the Brave" to kill an enemy sniper and accidentally signal the attack which eventually destroys the island he was sent back in time to investigate. It can be found in a boat to the left of the starting point of the mission itself and used in it, and can be dual-wielded in arcade mode. The flares act more like rockets in-game, flying forward with a gradual downwards arc and exploding on impact with the ground or an enemy, doing splash damage to anything nearby, but a direct hit will usually instantly kill enemies, setting them on fire and ensuring they die soon even if they do survive it.
  • The first Killing Floor has its own version of a flare gun called the "Flare Revolver", a modified Colt 1851 Navy. As with the other handguns in the game it can be dual-wielded, but unlike the rest it is meant for the Firebug Perk, and as such it is modified to launch .36-caliber flares rather than bullets. The Flare Revolver's an interesting weapon as its flares act as actual flares and can light up dark areas. It returns in Killing Floor 2 with a slightly new look and is now dubbed the "Spitfire Revolver", now a cross-perk weapon with the pistol-focused Gunslinger Perk.
  • In 1917, Corporal Blake is given a Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk. III* before he and Corporal Schofield leave the British frontline to enter no man's land and cross to the German trenches. He uses the Mk. III* to signal back to base that he and Schofield have made it through alive before discarding the gun.
  • The Distress Pistol in The Long Dark is used as both Ranged Emergency Weapon and in certain contexts, a signaling device. If the flare connects with an animal, it'll get stuck and not only make the target easy to track down, it'll inflict burning Damage Over Time on top of the bleeding; a wolf can die from one well-placed shell. The problem is actually hitting, as the sights are atrocious and the flare is nowhere near as fast as a bullet.
  • Hunt: Showdown has the Webley & Scott No. 1 Mk. III* labelled as the "Flare Pistol". Albeit with a somewhat strange hexagonal chamber profile rather than the real flare gun's round one. In-game, it is classified as a "Tool" rather than a weapon, it's primary use is to light up dark areas (something which the game certainly doesn't have a shortage of); it can still be used as one in an emergency, though its damage relies primarily on afterburn rather than initial impact damage. The muzzle also has a nick on it in order to provice a crude ersatz iron sight.

    Tasers 
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Top: Advanced Taser M26, Bottom: Taser X26
A less-lethal electroshock weapon developed by former NASA engineer Jack Cover in 1974 and manufactured by Taser International, the Taser (Short for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle) is a weapon made popular by law enforcement all over the globe, used to non-lethally incapacitate potentially dangerous targets. It uses compressed nitrogen charges to shoot barbed dart-like electrodes at the target which stay connected to the main unit by conductive wire and are capable of penetrating clothing, then sends an electric current through them to the target once it is hit. The electric shock lasts for 5 seconds (10/30 for civilian models) and will deliver 0.02-0.04 amps which will cause neuromuscular incapacitation, in which the target's nervous system would have no control of the muscles causing instant and unavoidable incapacitation. In addition, the Taser can also Drive Stun targets by pressing it to the intended target with the cartridges removed or holding the button on the side of the X2 and X3 models. Several different models are available, with the most popular being the Advanced Taser M26 and Taser X26, and a variety of accessories are available, including laser sights, tactical lights, practice targets, maintenance kits, a data port download kit, a Blackhawk holster, and a camera that is activated whenever the weapon is armed.
  • The Air Taser Model 34000 appears throughout the Syphon Filter series, being famous for its ability to set enemies on fire if you shock them long enough with it.
  • Carlo uses an M26 to capture Lecter in Hannibal.
  • The M26 with a fully black finish and no blast doors appears in Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness as the K2 Impactor, being able to take down human enemies in a single shot.
  • Both the M26 and a two-shot model very closely resembling the Stinger S-400 are usable in SWAT 4 as two of the non-lethal secondary weapons available to you and your team. The former is available in the base game, while the latter is unlocked with the Stetchkov Syndicate Expansion Pack, where it's called the Cobra. Contrary to reality, only the "Cobra" possesses a Drive Stun mode, and the game completely ignores the possible lethal applications of tasers or their resultant use as a second-last resort - you can shock someone on-sight, multiple times, regardless of their complaints or any pre-existing conditions that would likely kill them from the first tase, and never once get the dreaded "unlawful use of deadly force" penalty.
  • The M26 appears as a usable weapon for both teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive called the Zeus X27, costing $200 and being able to take down a enemy in one hit at close range, though only being good for one shot.
  • The X26 is usable in Battlefield Hardline as the T62 CEW, a sidearm for all kits. Enemies hit by it will be taken down non-lethally with a score bonus for it, and can be interrogated to reveal the location of their teammates on the minimap for a short time.
  • Both the X3 and X26 are usable in the multiplayer of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the former as a standalone secondary weapon, and the latter as an underbarrel attachment for assault rifles. They can be used to stun enemies and then hack their Augmented Reality software to track the rest of their team for a short time. It also allows use of the Taser Shockwave, essentially a taser version of a Claymore mine, which like most video-game Claymores is triggered by an enemy moving in front of it rather than when the user triggers it.
  • Captain Dickson uses a X2 on Schmidt's balls in 22 Jump Street.
  • An available weapon in Grand Theft Auto V, as the "Teaser". Very short range, but can down anyone anywhere in one shot and has infinite ammo. Trevor is given one by the Civil Border Patrol to detain supposed illegal aliens. Trevor eventually has the option to use it on them (and nets you part of the requirement for a gold).
  • Available in the Saints Row games starting from 2 as the "Stun Gun", 2 using a model based on the M18 while The Third and IV move on to a model inspired by the X26. Surprisingly for this series, it's shown somewhat realistically, as while it does little damage it's still enough that multiple shots are enough to eventually kill someone, especially with the "High Voltage" upgrade for it in IV. That said, it's also placed in the melee-weapon slot, and as such never runs out of stun cartridges.
  • In Kick-Ass, Dave Lizewski carries a Taser as an Emergency Weapon, which he uses against Rahul and later brandishes at Hit-Girl after seeing her slaughter a room full of crooks. She's unimpressed.
    Hit-Girl: Dude, that is one gay-looking taser.
  • The X26 is available as simply the "Taser" in Postal 3.
  • PAYDAY 2 has enemies wielding Tasers who are simply called "Tasers". Their tasers stun anyone unfortunate enough to be shot, and if they aren’t taken care of in time, then the person will be downed.
  • Appears in both This Is The Police 2 and Rebel Cops as equipment for police officers during the tactical gameplay. It can be used to stun suspects for four turns, allowing for easier arrests.
  • In Psycho-Pass 3 episode 4, one of Enomiya's thugs tries to use a wire taser on Kei.
  • An early model of Taser was used in The Enforcer for a kidnapping. It's novel nature is lampshaded, where it is compared to a James Bond gadget.

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