Playing With / Hand Cannon

Basic Trope: A really large and powerful handgun.

• Straight: A fight breaks out. Bob pulls out a Smith & Wesson Model 500 that's chambered in .500 S&W Magnum, or a IMI Desert Eagle in .50 AE.
• Exaggerated:
  • Bob pulls out a "handgun" the size of his entire torso that is chambered in .50 BMG.
  • In the universe the story is set in, guns smaller than a pickup truck don't exist. And they're all fired with just his non dominant hand's pinky finger!
• Downplayed: Bob pulls out a Colt Python chambered in .357, or a Glock 20 in 10mm.
• Justified:
  • Bob's hunting with a handgun, and his target is a large game like bears.
  • Bob is a very large and very strong man. Anything smaller would look like a toy in his hand.
  • Bob has a ballistic shield in his off-hand and the Hand Cannon gives him better firepower than regular pistols.
• Inverted:
  • Size-wise: Bob pulls out a .22 derringer that fits in his palm.
  • Philosophy-wise (few big bullets vs lots of small bullets): Bob pulls out an MAC-11 in .380.
• Subverted:
  • Bob carries both a S&W M29 and a 9mm handgun. But in a real fight, Bob always goes for the 9mm.
  • A handgun the size of Bob's thigh actually fires small-caliber rounds, like a 9mm or a .22.
• Double Subverted:
  • At the story's climax, Bob finally breaks out the .44 and uses it to blow the Big Bad's head clean off.
  • "Oh, it fires 9mm all right. 9x39 rifle rounds, that is."
  • The reason why that gun is so damned huge is because it's reinforced up the wazoo to handle the custom magnum-load small-caliber rounds it fires, the ones with the banned explosive filling. So by the standards of .22-shooting firearms, it's still absurdly powerful.
• Parodied:
  • Bob's "hand cannon" is an actual tank cannon (or a Civil War-era muzzleloading cannon) with a pistol grip welded on the bottom. He somehow manages to use it like an normal pistol.
  • Bob has the largest handgun of the cast... but it's a dolled-up Nerf blaster, so it's completely useless in a real fight.
• Averted:
  • There are no handguns in story that are bigger than an average 9mm.
  • Guns don't feature in the story, period.
• Invoked: Bob specifically custom orders his handguns to be as large and powerful as possible.
• Exploited: Weapon for Intimidation: Bob draws his hand cannon and shoves it at a crook's face to terrify him into surrendering. The crook shits himself in terror and caves almost immediately.
• Defied: Bob scoffs at the oversized handgun and opts for his trusty 9mm.
• Deconstructed: Bob's oversized handgun kicks like a rhino, isn't accurate at range, has poor magazine size, and jams every other bullet. Any opponent that justifies the increased power is better dealt with using a long arm.
• Reconstructed:
  • Bob himself is built like a bear, allowing him to mitigate the disadvantages of his oversized handgun.
    • He's also tough enough to get away with using it as a personal indulgence and smart enough to switch to something else when he genuinely needs to.
    • He's also got the steady nerves and accuracy required to make those few shots count, treating his Hand Cannon as a Sniper Pistol in a pinch.
  • Any opponent that justifies the increased power and comes within close-quarters battle distance is going to be close enough that the impractical parts of that handgun won't matter.
  • Bob uses a bullet-proof shield in his off-hand. Hand cannons give him enough firepower to take down most enemies, while still opening up his off-hand to use a shield- and he knows an effective technique to mitigate the punishing recoil.