History Main / PistolWhipping

* One such moment led to the evolution of a CatchPhrase on ''Series/GetSmart''. The Chief is being held hostage by KAOS and is just telling Max over the phone not to cooperate when he's knocked out by a mook.

* ''Film/ResidentEvilTheFinalChapter''. Alice is CaughtInASnare so FacelessGoons for the Umbrella Corporation can beat on her with rifle butts. She wrests a rifle off one and uses it to kill the others, [[WithMyHandsTied while hanging upside down by one leg]].

* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'': The opening cutscene has Jak get knocked unconscious by a rifle butt to the face.
** In-game, in II and ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'', you can do this with your guns. Even better, it's part of a combo: you hit the enemy, then hit the fire button to shoot the hell out of them up-close, which works pretty well — the melee attack puts the foe into a sort of stunned animation that nearly guarantees your subsequent shots will hit. And if you manage to kill them with the melee lunge, and hit fire, Jak will automatically turn toward the nearest enemy and shoot them.

* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' and ''Pandora Tomorrow'', Sam can knock his enemies out by giving them a sharp rap over the head with his pistol. It comes back in ''Conviction'' where as part of Sam's melee kills.

* ''Fanfic/TheGoodHunter'': Occasionally done by the eponymous Good Hunter, should he be unable to reload fast enough. His SuperStrength means that this is pretty effective, as an unfortunate monster and an Order soldier can attest to, both of whom have their skulls cracked like an egg in Chapter 3 and 6 respectively. If it is possible for one to actually kill via this method in RealLife, they are not going to survive any time soon.
* In ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', the Good Hunter bludgeons his prey with his pistol and blunderbuss just as often as he shoots them. As [[OneHitKill powerful]] as they are, they do take time to reload after firing a single shot. Bear in mind that even without a bullet, those firearms are blunt instruments after all, and any blunt instrument in the hands of a hunter of [[SuperStrength inhuman strength]] is just as deadly as his cleaver.

* ''Literature/ByAnyOtherName'': [[spoiler:Katya's kidnappers pistol-whipped her before they threw her from the car, causing severe brain damage. She's still in a vegetative state a year later.]]

* ''Film/{{Stiletto}}'': When a transvestite prostitute pulls a gun on Beck and tries to rob him, Beck takes it off him and savagely beats him about the head with it until he coughs up the information he is looking for.

* In ''Manga/{{Golgo 13}} The Professional'' Duke does this to the assassins Gold and Silver. He first smashes Silver in the face with his pistol, breaking his mask in the process, then he bashes Gold over the head with it until he caves his skull in. Surprisingly, this doesn't kill him.

* ''ComicBook/TheAdventuresOfTintin'':
** Tintin knocks out two criminals with this in ''The Black Island'' to shut them up when he realizes that the gun he obtained from them is empty.
** In ''The Crab with the Golden Claws'', an enraged Captain Haddock shouts at the retreating enemy, "...and if you come back you'll feel my rifle-butt!..." He proceeds to hit himself in the head with the gun he was twirling.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** ComicBook/TheJoker does this to Jason Todd in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily'' as the beginning of his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. It goes FromBadToWorse, culminating in the infamous "crowbar scene".
** Harvey Bullock does this to a prisoner who looks like ComicBook/TheThing from The ComicBook/FantasticFour in the "ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}" saga.

* The Joker does this to Barbara Gordon during his assault on her in ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey #124, in response she hits him in the face with her baton, breaking most of his teeth.

* In ''Comicbook/TheMightyThor'' (specifically issue #362 of the original run), Skurge the Executioner makes a LastStand at the bridge Gjallerbru against an army of the dead wielding a pair of M-16 rifles. The last image shows him wielding one of them as a club after running out of ammunition.

* ''[[Franchise/MonsterVerse Skull Island: The Birth of Kong]]'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Riccio]] butt-strokes the Iwi boy [[WouldHurtAChild Ato]] for trying to talk him out of endangering the Iwi.

* In Barry Windsor-Smith's ''Weapon X'' this is what knocks Logan unconscious after being ambushed and drugged by his abductors.

* In V.Suvorov's book ''Control,'' an elite soviet agent had to choose a handgun with the condition that it should not be made in the USSR. She got a Lahti L-35, not even for its lesser recoil, just because it's a sturdy 1.2 kg steel piece that would make a nice skullcrusher... And uses Parabellum 9 mm ammo after all. JustifiedTrope, as the need for silent action made pistol-whipping a [[IncrediblyLamePun sound]] tactic.

* One of the later books in Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Southern Victory'' series has a passage mentioning that death camp guards are issued submachine guns with real wooden stocks for just this purpose, rather than the cheaper all-metal construction that apparently falls apart.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'': Ocelot very foolishly attempted to do this to Snake rather than [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns attempt to un-jam his gun]], a very bad move since Snake is a hand to hand expert. A few moments later Snake showed Ocelot how it's done when he easily parried another attack from Ocelot, hit him in the gut, then smacked the already stunned Ocelot on the back of the head/neck with the butt of his own pistol.

* Ocelot very foolishly attempted to do this to Snake in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' rather than [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns attempt to un-jam his gun]], a very bad move since Snake is a hand to hand expert. A few moments later Snake showed Ocelot how it's done when he easily parried another attack from Ocelot, hit him in the gut, then smacked the already stunned Ocelot on the back of the head/neck with the butt of his own pistol.
** All of the ''Solid'' games from ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' onward utilize this trope to some extent. If the player attempts to punch/use CQC while equipping a weapon larger than a pistol, Snake/Raiden will swing the weapon and do more damage to enemies than he would with his bare fists (the extremely large Nikita launcher in ''2'' and ''The Twin Snakes'' in particular is an instant knockout).

[[caption-width-right:331:Pistol-whipping [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety with your finger on the trigger]]: DontTryThisAtHome.[[labelnote:*]]Maybe it's because he said [[Film/SuperTroopers 'shenanigans'?]][[/labelnote]]]]

* [[spoiler: Kaname]] hits a captured [[spoiler: Tessa]] with the handle of a gun in the ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'' manga. To be fair, by that time [[spoiler: it wasn't exactly Kaname since she [[GrandTheftMe was possessed by Sophia]].]] And not to mention, it gets worse soon. [[spoiler: Sort of.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheF1rstHero'': In Issue #1, [[TheProtagonist Jake Roth]] is knocked unconscious when smacked in the face by the butt of an enemy's rifle.

* ''[[Franchise/MonsterVerse Skull Island: The Birth of Kong]]'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Riccio]] butt-strokes the Iwi boy [[WouldHurtAChild Ato]] for trying to talk him out of endangering the Iwi.

* As one article pointed out this happened a lot to the original ''ComicBook/BlackCanary''.

* In ''Comicbook/TheMightyThor'' (specifically issue #362 of the original run), Skurge the Executioner makes a LastStand at the bridge Gjallerbru against an army of the dead wielding a pair of M-16 rifles. The last image shows him wielding one of them as a club after running out of ammunition.

* Your standard melee in ''VideoGame/{{GoldenEye|1997}}'' is karate-chopping people, but it's replaced by hitting enemies with the sniper rifle's stock once you acquire that weapon.

* It's possible to do this in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series, at least as far back as ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', where CJ will automatically smack people with the butt of his gun if you attempt to fire at an enemy who's too close.

* Thieves in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' actually have a skill called Pistol Whip when they equip a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. The pistol whip stuns your target leaving them defenseless, followed by a flurry of sword strikes. It's arguably more effective than shooting your gun in some scenarios.
* The melee attack in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' games. [[OneHitKill Fairly useful if delivered to the back against all enemies.]]
** More than fairly useful - the developers (and players) know it is an essential part of the gameplay. Depending on the game, as little as two melee hits to the front in standard multiplayer can be enough to kill anyone, making it a prudent thing to use after shooting someone and closing in; many gunfights end with someone using a melee attack.

* Agent 47 can pistol whip any HumanShield in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' to save on knockout injections.
* One of Red Hood's main melee attacks with his pistols in ''VideoGame/Injustice2''. Some can even be customized to not only have spikes on the bottom (the base plates of the ''magazines'') but also have '''electrified ones'''. So they can be used to pistol whip more effectively.
* In ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', the opening cutscene has Jak get knocked unconscious by a rifle butt to the face.

* Running out of ammunition for any weapons in the original ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' will cause Jimmy to instead smack enemy soldiers with whatever gun he's carrying. Since this produces the exact same death effects as shooting them with the gun would, [[HilarityEnsues hilarity quickly ensues]] — ''especially'' if you conk them on the noggin with the [[{{BFG}} Panzerfaust]].
* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault'' has this as the alt fire of any equipped pistol. It's two expansions, ''Spearhead'' and ''Breakthrough'', add this to other weapons save for sniper rifles.

* In ''VideoGame/WinBack'', sneaking up on someone and pistol whipping them is entirely possible, but your trainer (after shoving out a guy for you to practice on) says this is not really always effective. So blasting 'em is better.
* In ''Videogame/XCOM2'', X-COM operatives subdue ADVENT's VichyEarth collaborators by bashing them with the butt of their gun to knock them out, then carry them to the evac zone.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', one of Sharla's attacks, Head Shaker, is this.
* Most of the Bounty Hunters in ''VideoGame/HuntShowdown'' have this as an option when an enemy gets too close for comfort. Hilariously when using it with the Sawed-off Romero 77, has them grabbing the barrel and using it as an improvised hammer with the butt of the pistol grip being the hammer head. Some of the firearms in the game have variants that are specifically made to be ''better'' for melee combat.

May be a form of QuickMelee. For another kind of melee attack with a firearm (preferably a sharp one), see BayonetYa.