History Main / ImprobableUseOfAWeapon

* Saki from ''Suguri'' also uses a grenade as a melee weapon. It has a 25% chance of exploding and dealing double damage.

* Carlos Hathcock, a famed Marine Corps sniper (one of his famous achievements being a ScopeSnipe), once used a ''.50 machinegun'' [[http://www.bobtuley.com/50bmg914.jpg modified and mounted with a scope]] as an improvised sniper rifle. He set the record for the longest combat kill at 2,286 meters, a feat not surpassed until the Afghanistan war. This counts as a trope example since the M2 was not designed for precision sniping, it just happens to be pretty good at it when not fired automatically.

* The demoman from TeamFortress2 uses potato masher as a weapon. Not [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_masher this]] kind, but [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_24_grenade this one]]. As a ''melee'' weapon.

* While it's possible to swing the blade of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusari-gama kusari-gama]] by the chain (Wikipedia calls this the "Houten Ryu style"), doing so has a tendency not to work very well, and the chain is just used for swings aroud the weight. Except in fiction, which by {{Rule Of Cool}} almost always has it used like that. Also tends to occur with specialized swords like sabers and rapiers--I think there's a trope for that, but I can't find. Oh, and see {{Throwing Your Sword Always Works}}.
** It helps that, unlike real ones, most fictional kusari-gama have fairly short handles, or blades that are attached to the chain instead of the handle.
* Kunai are pretty common targets of this trope. Kunai are often portrayed as having sharp edges. In actuality, only the tip is sharp. The kunai was designed as a trowel, not as a dagger. Following that, they were not typically thrown (but then again, [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks neither are most weapons that are thrown in fiction]]).

* In ''{{Terminator}} 2: Judgment Day'', the T-800 uses a hand-held GE M134 Minigun. The Terminator's use of it can be handwaved by being a super-strong cyborg, though one wonders why Sarah Conner kept a helicopter's weapon in her arsenal to begin with.

* [[CrazyPrepared Just in case.]] If you want realism, she might've planned to mount it onto a jeep or something. She was expecting ''death robots from the future'' after all. What she ''wasn't'' planning on, however, was that said robot would be fighting alongside her. So what do you do? Improvise.

* In ''{{Predator}}'', Jesse Ventura uses a hand-held GE M134 Minigun. It is impossible for anyone to really hold and use this weapon. In RealLife this gun is mounted on a helicopter or armoured vehicle, it is far too heavy to be used otherwise. An even smaller version was actually designed to be hand-held ([[{{Defictionalization}} after some US Marines watched the film]], rumour has it), the [=XM214=], but was nigh-impossible to aim and never made it past the prototype stage.
** In ''{{Terminator}} 2: Judgement Day'', The Terminator uses one, but that is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that he is not human, and thus actually able to use such a large heavy weapon.
*** On the set for both the above movies, the only person who could even lift the thing (minus ammo and power supply) was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
*** With the rate of fire of a minigun, to shoot for anything more than 10 seconds would take about 30 people constantly running to bring you more ammunition.

* In ''{{Predator}}'', Jesse Ventura uses a hand-held GE M134 Minigun. It is impossible for anyone to really hold and use this weapon. In RealLife this gun is mounted on a helicopter, it is far too heavy to be used otherwise. An even smaller version was actually designed to be hand-held, the [=XM214=], but was never mass produced.

* [[GauntsGhosts Trooper "Try Again" Bragg]] loves to use autocannon or heavy machine guns like they were rifles. He's [[TheBigGuy certainly massive enough to swing it]], and it helps make up for [[ATeamFiring his marksmanship]].

** "Honey, a gun is just a tool, like a screwdriver, or a crossbow, or an alligator..."

* [[TheGamers Attempting to sneak attack a PERSON with a ballista.]]

* In [[{{Discworld}} The City Watch Novels]], Detritus's the troll WeaponOfChoice is a ballista. He is able to use it like a crossbow just because he's so damn big.

* An episode of ''TheSimpsons'' had Homer buying a revolver, which he promptly uses to do things like opening beer cans and changing TV channels. This recklessness causes Marge to leave with the children and gets him kicked out of the local NRA.

* ''DragonQuestIX'' shows equipment changes on your character, but all items of a given type are treated the same way. Naturally, this can easily lead to misuse of a rapier.

* Averted in TalesOfPhantasia; a rapier is an early-game weapon, and it's perfectly possible to slash with it. Don't expect to do any decent damage that way, though; the game's combat system allows you to use slashing and thrusting attacks, and the weapons used in this fashion have an attack power listed for each. Later on, you also get access to spears and axes, both of which possessing about as much slashing and thrusting power as you'd expect.

* In ''GodHand'' you can get the tremendously useful rocket launcher... which you use with the same animation as every other weapon and use it to beat someones head in.

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* Khrima, the BigBad of ''[=~Adventurers!~=]'', uses an [[KillSat orbital laser]] to make grilled cheese sandwiches.

* In [[{{Discworld}} The City Watch Novels]], Detritus's the troll SignatureWeapon is a ballista. He is able to use it like a crossbow just because he's so damn big.