History Main / HandCannon

* The vampire Alucard in ''{{Hellsing}}'': he carries an awesomely huge pistol that can fire the mighty .454 Casull cartridge (which is ''literally'' only slightly smaller than a AA battery). Later on he is given another ''bigger'' pistol (39 cm long, 16kg unloaded, 13mm rounds), which he uses together with the first one [[GunsAkimbo akimbo-style]]. Both guns are ridiculously heavy for their size. For comparison, the US Army's standard-issue platoon machine gun, the [=M240B=], weighs in at 12kg. Neither are weapons any man could hope to wield, but "It was never meant for a man."
** In Hellsing's [[Anime/Hellsing anime]], [[LooksLikeOrlok Incog]][[BigBad nito]] wields an ArmsCor 40 mm, which is a Grenade launcher; and the grenades contain [[AbnormalAmmo vampire-killing spines of death]]. This gun is actually chained to his arm.[[BodyHorror He can also produce it from his arm at will, and reloads it by vomiting green slime into it]].

** [[EntendreFailure We]] ''[[EntendreFailure do]]'' [[EntendreFailure know what you mean - a compensator diverts muzzle energy upwards, pushing the barrel downwards and "compensating" for the recoil.]]

* The Thompson Center Contender can fire shotgun shells or various full-power rifle rounds. It can also be outfitted with a 21" barrel.

* Nero of ''[[DevilMayCry Devil May Cry 4]]'' has the Blue Rose, a carbine-sized revolver with barrels at the twelve and six o'clock positions of the cylinder, which [[HandWave somehow]] fires both at once with a single hammer. He can fire it one-handed, and it can later be upgraded to have a ChargedAttack that fires delayed-detonation high-explosive rounds.

** Actually, Nero's revolver is a Smith and Wesson Model 500 that's been heavily customized. What allows him to fire it one-handed is the customized portings on the barrel that neutralizes recoil and muzzle flip.

** The 14mm pistol also counts. [[OrSoIHeard Apparently]] there's some [[AllThereInTheManual background info]] that explains before the end of the world that it was a hunting pistol.

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* The [[http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg172-e.htm MBA Gyrojet]] was actually a 6-shot handheld rocket launcher. It fired 13mm rockets, but was also horribly inaccurate and had very poor reliability (it often misfired). Only a few were actually produced and used in the Vietnam War before the project was ended.

* [[HumanAliens Human alien]] Vash the Stampede in ''{{Trigun}}''. His sidearm is usually a huge pistol (chambered in .45 Long Colt, a slightly shorter predecessor of the .454 Casull round), but it contains a piece of AppliedPhlebotinum that allows it to merge with his arm and become the Angel Arm, a [[{{BFG}} beam weapon]] of [[WaveMotionGun monstrous destructive power]]. His EvilTwin Knives (who designed and built the gun in question) has an identical example (which can also form the Angel Arm), except his is black while Vash's is silver.

Often, the character's hands are barely big enough to support the weapon. In particularly {{egregious}} cases they're fired [[OneHandedIsCool one-handed]] or even [[GunsAkimbo dual-wielded]] -- try this in RealLife and you'll end up with a broken wrist and [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy a bullet going nowhere near where it's supposed to.]]

* The strongest handgun in ''TheGodfather'' game is a "magnum" that already rivals the shotgun for power at both their first levels. You can upgrade it. Have fun.

* In ''[[ComicBook/{{Batman}}]] Detective Comics]] #841'', the Mad Hatter uses a revolver that is actually fairly normal... if you don't take into account its four foot long barrel; It's easily mistaken for a walking cane.

* In ''[[ComicBook/{{Batman]] Detective Comics]] #841'', the Mad Hatter uses a revolver that is actually fairly normal... if you don't take into account its four foot long barrel; It's easily mistaken for a walking cane.

* In OnePiece, new character [[spoiler: Basco Shot]] uses a large Flintlock on the [[spoiler: Blackbeard Pirates' assualt on Whitebeard]]. Considering that [[spoiler: Shot]] has to be around 22 feet tall, that's got to be one big gun.

* Liz and Patti's 'Death Eagle .42' forms in {{Soul Eater}}, being massive versions of their usual Weapon forms. Kid uses one in each hand to shoot down Mosquito's bats.
* Hello? {{Kurohime}} anyone? And not just the main character's weapon but Zero's 4 pistols are pretty damn big too. As are well. . .pretty much every other gun in the series. Oh and did I mention that Kurohime's revolver can become a gatling revolver, a sniper rifle, a shotgun cannon, and a weird multi-barreled. . .thing. It's not a minigun because it's not automatic. It sort of reminds me of a rail rifle.
* In GhostInTheShell Togusa uses a truly impressive looking .44 magnum auto-revolver. But he's frequently told to finally get rid of this flimsy thing and upgrade to something with [[MoreDakka real firepower]].

* In one issue of ABC Warriors workcrew on a massive terraforming operation on Mars have been going missing. The woman in charge carries a massive hand cannon with three chambers, but only three rounds. It is capable of killing anything it hits. She is eventually killed by hundreds of Martian animals after using up her three rounds.
* In ''Detective Comics #841'', the Mad Hatter uses a revolver that is actually fairly normal... if you don't take into account its four foot long barrel; It's easily mistaken for a walking cane.
* In what seems to be a ShoutOut to the ''JohnnyDangerously'' reference below, a character in the '''very''' {{NSFW}} ''Lann'' by Frank Thorne says about his favored machine pistol, "This is ''not'' a ''gun''. It's a ''poem''. An ''ode'' to ''death''. It ''shoots through schools -- of sharks!''"

* ArnoldSchwarzenegger's character in the movie ''Red Heat'' wasn't impressed by the .44 Magnum he was loaned, when his personal gun (a hand cannon in its own right) was confiscated.

* Hungarian movie ''Argo'' features a character called Psycho carrying a 2 ft. long revolver. With Disney characters carved on it. Yes, like Mickey Mouse.

** The Cowboys had JohnWayne telling the boys he had for cowhands to put their guns in a wagon. Cue the smallest boy extracting the largest gun from his belt.

* In the VigilanteMan flick, ''Death Sentence'', Kevin Bacon needs to buy some guns for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge so he goes to a black market gun dealer (played by John Goodman). John Goodman then proceeds to use this sales pitch when refering to a [[RevolversAreJustBetter Colt Python]], a [[CoolGuns Colt M1911]], and a [[RareGuns Desert Eagle]] respectively:

* In PoliceAcademy 4, Citizens On Patrol!, gun nut Tackleberry gets to take the recruits to the range. By far the most enthusiastic recruit is Mrs. Feldman, an 80 year old who is raring to become a [[BadassGrandpa badass grandma]] and bust some criminal heads. She takes a particular liking to Tackleberry, and demands to wrap her hands around his [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean immense, rigid, manly instrument]]. The recoil blows her across the room, and she promptly declares "Damn, that was FUN!"

* Though normal-looking guns are present, the air pirates in CastleInTheSky use these as their weapon of choice.

* The Particle Magnum used by Ronon Dex in Stargate Atlantis. Given that later in the series, Rodney [=McKay=] easily beats him to the girl, I'd say he's compensating for something, except that he already had the magnum long before that.
* Josh Randall's "Mare's Leg" in the series ''Wanted Dead or Alive'' is a cut down Winchester 1892 Carbine, in a hip holster similar to that of Zoe above.
* Parodied on {{SCTV}} with "Harry Filth," a DirtyHarry-esque cop played by John Candy, who at one point carries a revolver that's much bigger than ''Harry himself''.

* While FengShui gives us the standard hand cannons for the contemporary juncture, for those coming from the 2056 juncture, there's really only one gun worthy of HandCannon status -- the Buro Godhammer, which fires .50 caliber rounds, has a five-round mag, and can be fired full-auto for even nastier damage (though you'll have to reload after).

* SLAIndustries has the "Blitzer".

* The [[http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?link=h3pistol M6 series of pistols]] in {{Halo}} is chambered for 12.7x40mm (necked-down .50 BMG) high explosive armor piercing rounds.Seems like overkill at first, perhaps, but against the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Covenant]], it might just be justified.
* KillingFloor has Desert Eagles [[AKA47 renamed]] "Hand Cannons".
* SeriousSam's ultimate weapon is a literal, genuine, honest-to-god HandCannon that shoots actual cannonballs.

** In Mass Effect 2 one of the pistol type weapons is the literal the Carnifex Hand Cannon. Also justification of pistol size is simple, given how most of the weapons expand from a storage mode. Most of the weapon is air and light weight nano composites.

* How could we get this far and not mention the Chaos Dwarf Hand Cannon of RuneScape?

* Brian Mallory, the protagonist's brother from {{The Difference Engine}} by W. Gibson and B. Sterling, carries a Russian pistol that most definitely qualifies as a HandCannon (and is later called that). It was picked from a dead Tzarist officer in Crimea, "isn't exactly regulation", "queer-looking", and presumably shoots something not unlike artillery canister shells. Think [[BiggerIsBetter giant razor-buckshot rounds, "as thick as a copper's baton"]]. It is single-shot, insanely loud (it even causes friendlies to lose their bearing for a minute) and can literally ''gib'' six people at once with a well-placed shot. In other words, a flare gun from Hell.

* Josh Randall's "Mare's Leg" in the series '''Wanted Dead or Alive''' is a cut down Winchester 1892 Carbine, in a hip holster similar to that of Zoe above.

* The magnum pistol from ''{{GURPS}}: Ultra-Tech'' fires a 15mm round, larger than the bullets in a modern anti-materiel rifle. And then there's the shotgun pistol...

* ''ResidentEvil'' games usually have a Magnum serving as one of the more powerful weapons. Ammo's rare and it's usually slow to fire, but they typically kill zombies, Hunters, Lickers, et cetera in one hit. Players often reserve their ammunition entirely for the boss fights as they tend to be the best weapons.
** ResidentEvil4 has an unlockable magnum that's actually called the Handcannon.

* Nero of ''DevilMayCry 4'' has the Blue Rose, a carbine-sized revolver with barrels at the twelve and six o'clock positions of the cylinder, which [[HandWave somehow]] fires both at once with a single hammer. He can fire it one-handed, and it can later be upgraded to have a ChargedAttack that fires delayed-detonation high-explosive rounds.

* ''{{Fallout}}'' has the .223 pistol - apparently a cut down .223 hunting rifle that's been "lovingly handcrafted" into a pistol. It looks suspiciously like Deckard's gun from BladeRunner, and .223 is almost never used to hunt with, but it's still a rifle round in a pistol package.

* For some reason, the most powerful and second-most accurate gun in ''{{Half-Life}} 2'' is a .357 Magnum. [[RevolversAreJustBetter And this is with the futuristic pulse rifles and sniper-crossbows]]. Balanced by the [[LawOfInverseRecoil high recoil]], low rate of fire and small amount of ammunition Gordon can cary for it.
* In ''{{Killer7}}'', the persona Dan Smith uses a Colt Python as his primary weapon. While this is large enough to qualify for this trope as is, he receives a mid-game upgrade: the Demon Gun, a double barreled, twelve-shell cylinder revolver, which appears to be larger than his head in several cut scenes.
** MASK goes one better by using a pair of cut-down grenade launchers.

* Fefnir in MegaManZero has TWO of them. Justified as he was built as a heavy weapons specialist and is strong enough to do it.

* {{Chicanery}}'s [[TriggerHappy Mr. Saturn]] has a "Modified [[TropeCo [=DeathCo=]]] Magnum", several times larger than the main characters and apparently a cross between a [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolver]] and a [[{{Blame}} GBE.]] Effects range from [[YourHeadAsplode blowing heads apart]] to [[LudicrousGibs explosively atomising people]] and [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank coating the surrounding area in blood.]]
* {{Narbonic}}'s ANTONIO SMITH, FORENSIC LINGUIST wields such a weapon.

* ArnoldSchwarzenegger's character in the movie ''RedHeat'' wasn't impressed by the .44 Magnum he was loaned, when his personal gun (a hand cannon in its own right) was confiscated.

* Hungarian movie ''{{Argo}}'' features a character called Psycho carrying a 2 ft. long revolver. With Disney characters carved on it. Yes, like Mickey Mouse.

* In the VigilanteMan flick, ''DeathSentence'', Kevin Bacon needs to buy some guns for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge so he goes to a black market gun dealer (played by John Goodman). John Goodman then proceeds to use this sales pitch when refering to a [[RevolversAreJustBetter Colt Python]], a [[CoolGuns Colt M1911]], and a [[RareGuns Desert Eagle]] respectively:

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

[[caption-width-right:300:NotCompensatingForAnything, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial honest.]]]]]]

You know you're dealing with either this or a {{BFG}} if a character says something along the lines of "Wow, that's a [[ReallyBigGun really big gun]]."

A subtrope of BiggerIsBetter. Differs from {{BFG}} in that the HandCannon is large ''for a handgun'', while the BFG is simply large. See also: SmallGirlBigGun. And of course, CompensatingForSomething. Not to be confused with ArmCannon, which is literally a cannon on the arm.

* In ''AgainstADarkBackground'' by Iain M. Banks, protagonist Sharrow has this literally; the model name of her gun is [=FrintArms HandCannon=].