History Main / HandCannon

** ''Resident Evil 4'''s Hand cannon might be the most exaggerated example of the trope in video game history: its rounds can kill nearly any normal enemy in 1 shot and can pierce through multiple targets[[labelnote:*]]and no, shields don't stop them[[/labelnote]]. What's better, the Merchant has an upgrade for it which gives it ''infinite ammo and zero reload time'', turning it into a complete GameBreaker... or it would be, if you didn't have to achieve OneHundredPercentCompletion on the Mercenaries minigame, which is only available after you beat the game once, and you didn't have to go through multiple playthroughs to amass the cash required to upgrade it to its max potential. It's one hell of a BraggingRightsReward, though.
** The one that Barry is packing in the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil (1)'' Remake can OneHitKill the Tyrant's first form. The regular Magnum only takes a bit more than that.

* Often, in VideoGames, the Desert Eagle is used as a symbol of just how badass the military is, never minding the fact that a huge gun like a Desert Eagle would never be used by any unit, Special Ops or otherwise, because they're just [[AwesomeButImpractical too heavy and loud]].

* ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic:'' The [[GatlingGood Gunner]]'s sidearm, the "Bulldog" Heavy Revolver, is one of these. It has only four bullets at a time, but those bullets are the most individually damaging in the game. The description explicitly states they're 26mm; for reference, in reality the biggest available rifle bullet is around 24mm. Dwarves like their weapons ''big''. And the "Elephant Rounds" [[PowerAtAPrice Unstable Overclock]] lets you fire even ''bigger'' bullets, at the cost of only three bullets per reload, less ammo overal and absolutely brutal recoil; hefty price, but it'll blast [[EliteMook Praetorians]] open like nothing else.

** Nero of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' has the Blue Rose, a customized Smith & Wesson Model 500 with barrels at the twelve and six o'clock positions of six-shot cylinder(normal M500s have five shots), 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.
** Dante's signature pair of pistols ''look'' like handcannons, but they're more like heavily customized Colt .45 M1911s. What gives them their Hand cannon status, however, is that the bullets fired by them are charged (and [[BottomlessMagazines somehow reloaded]]) by Dante's power.

* Magnum Research, designers of the infamous Desert Eagle, also manufacture the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_Research_BFR "BFR"]], a solid-frame revolver that can be chambered in .45-70 and .450 Marlin and can take hot loads from either. Officially, the abbreviation stands for "Big Frame Revolver", but it's also been referred to as the "Biggest, Finest Revolver", and of course, nicknamed the [[{{BFG}} Big Fucking Revolver]].

* Magnum Research, designers of the infamous Desert Eagle, also manufacture the [[http://www.magnumresearch.com/BFR.asp "BFR"]], a solid-frame revolver that can be chambered in .45-70 and .450 Marlin and can take hot loads from either. They claim this stands for "Biggest, Finest Revolver," [[{{BFG}} but I think we all know what it really stands for]].

* {{Zig Zagged|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/RedneckRampage''. [[PlayerCharacter Leonard]]'s revolver has such a mean kick, it pushes the player back a bit with each shot and can only be fired once per second or so. It's {{Justified|Trope}} [[AllThereInTheManual the manual explains]] that it's a .454 Casull. [[SubvertedTrope Unfortunately its damage per bullet is far lower than a regular Hand Cannon's]][[labelnote:*]]if anything it's more in line with a .38 Special[[/labelnote]] – it takes three shots to kill a Skinny Old Coot clone or a Turd Minion, [[TheGoomba the weakest enemies in the game]]. It goes both ways as well: the Coot clones also carry this revolver, and being shot by them doesn't really hurt all that much even when you're sober[[note]]being tipsy (in the green Alcohol field) [[BoozeBasedBuff reduces damage by about 20%]][[/note]].
* ''Franchise/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.

** On a similar note, Dante's signature pair of pistols ''look'' like handcannons, but they're more like heavily customized Colt .45 M1911s. What gives them their Hand cannon status, however, is that the bullets fired by them are charged (and [[BottomlessMagazines somehow reloaded]]) by Dante's power.

** [=McCree=] has his Peacekeeper revolver, which has been shown to be ''[[https://designedby3d.com/shop/mccree-revolver/ stupidly huge]]'' when brought into the real world. It's implied to be at least .44 caliber. It's also a lethal piece of kit, doing up to 70 non-critical damage (this is just enough to perform frighteningly reliable double-taps on most non-tank enmies).

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

* Every agent in ''Film/TheMatrix'' spawns (literally) with a Desert Eagle .50 Action Express in their shoulder rig. And they seem to have BottomlessMagazines. Just to be clear, the Desert Eagle .50AE uses a gas-operated cycling system akin to what you would find in a semi-automatic ''rifle''. The agents, because of their nature, can of course fire these things one-handed.

* In ''Film/PulpFiction'', Jules and Vincent get shot at by a guy with a Hand Cannon, but [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy every shot misses]]. "Did you see that gun he fired at us? It was bigger than him."

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'':
** Torgue makes pistols ''called'' Hand Cannons, fitting Torgue's fame of outdamaging every single manufacturer, even if the Hand Cannons themselves are not the most powerful of Torgue's lineup.
** Most any pistol with the long Jakobs or heavy Torgue barrel, both of which dramatically increase damage per shot. In fact, the most powerful non-unique pistol is the Slapper, a Torgue pistol with the Torgue barrel.
** The Maggie is a shotgun pistol like the first game's Mashers, with decent damage to boot.
** The Rex is described by its flavor text as "a very big gun". Unlike other Jakobs guns, which fire faster the quicker you mash the fire button, Rex has a very slow firing speed but unparalleled per-shot damage – meaning it handles ''exactly'' like you'd expect a huge, powerful pistol to.
** The Unforgiven is essentially a handheld Sniper Rifle, with the same Critical Hit bonus, accuracy, and single shot damage as most snipers.
** The Pocket Rocket whose massive explosive area borders on grenades and rockets more than the standard Torgue gyrojet and fires pretty damn fast to boot.
** The [[Film/DirtyHarry Unkempt Harold]], which doesn't just have outstanding firepower for a pistol but outguns quite a few full-sized guns as well. It is considered one of the strongest guns in the game. Being a Torgue gun it combines nicely with Axton's "Gunpowder" skill tree which boosts both gun and grenade damage, something all Torgue guns do.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' introduce The Elephant Killer which is loosely based on the Smith & Wesson Model 500 For the first time in the series it gets to chamber the correct ammunition, .500 S&W, rather than the generic magnum ammo from ''[=RE5=]'' and the misnamed .5 caliber ammo from ''[=RE4=]''. As an interesting side note, it is depicted as being a hinge-opening revolver, as opposed to having a swing out cylinder as its real life counterpart. It does, however, feature the correct five-round capacity of the real revolver. Jake and Sherry hold it together and use it to finish off the final boss of their scenario.

* Noel Vermillion in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' [[SmallGirlBigGun wields two guns the length or her arms.]] Though this is hardly the most [[{{BFS}} absurdly oversized weapon]] in the game.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has a modest selection of hand cannons (usually revolvers), but also has the Malorian Arms 3516, the [[AceCustom one-of-a-kind]] hand cannon owned by legendary rockerboy Johnny Silverhand.

* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' has its own vicious way with this trope using a GiantMook neo-Nazi who claims that only a man of his gigantic proportions can handle his [[BlingBlingBang gold-plated Luger]] chambered for .454 Casull. Revy [[TalkToTheFist guns him down while he's still ranting]] about the capabilities of his weapon. She then points out (while sitting on his chest, which is still bleeding from her shooting him) that having a weapon that huge isn't even necessary, because all a bullet needs to do is hit the target to kill it, regardless of its size. She proves her point by shooting him in the face at point blank range with her comparatively-dinky 9mm handgun. The funny part? Revy actually was out of ammo when he showed up, and reloaded ''while he was giving his rant''.

The character with the giant handgun is sometimes [[StockSuperpowers superhuman]], [[OurMonstersAreDifferent supernatural]] or [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetically enhanced]] in order to compensate for the weapon's weight and recoil. In series where the heroes battle supernatural or cybernetically enhanced beings, weapons like these may well be necessary to take down their MadeOfIron[=/=]NighInvulnerable enemies.

* ''SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}}'' uses pretty much nothing but Hand Cannons or {{BFG}}s.

*** Because of the 1968 Gun Control Act, NFA-regulated items are not authorized for import into the United States. Therefore, any AKS-74U that is imported must not have [[MoreDakka automatic fire]] and the weapon must have its stock removed, so that it is imported as a pistol. NFA paperwork is sometimes done to restore the stock, however, no new [[MoreDakka machine gun]] registrations have been approved since 1986. However, because of other import restrictions (such as certain grip styles and magazine capacity requirements for non-US-manufactured receivers with below a certain number of US-made parts attached, this is not often done).

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''
** [=McCree=] has his Peacekeeper revolver, which has been shown to be ''[[https://designedby3d.com/shop/mccree-revolver/ stupidly huge]]'' when brought into the real world. It's implied to be at least .44 caliber. It's also a lethal piece of kit, doing up to 70 non-critical damage (this is just enough to perform frighteningly reliable double-taps on most non-tank enmies0.