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Combo Rifle

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Guns Akimbo is cool. Rifles and shotguns are cool. What could be better than combining them, in the form of handguns that can connect together to form a rifle or shotgun? You can combine your favorite gun tropes together without having to deal with the logistics of a character carrying both types of weapons separately. This also lets a character cover multiple tactical options with much fewer weapons, like handguns for a traditional shootout that can combine into a sniper rifle for long-range engagements.

Sure, Fridge Logic would have you know that Guns Do Not Work That Way: just think of all the firing mechanisms of the forward gun that would somehow have to get out of the way for a bullet fired from the back gun to travel down the barrels of both at once, not to mention the pressure of the firing would likely erupt from where the two barrels connect, which would almost certainly damage the weapon. But, it definitely qualifies for Rule of Cool so these problems may not be a concern. It makes somewhat more sense for Energy Weapons or Magnetic Weapons, whose power sources could be combined more easily than conventional guns.

Compare Bifurcated Weapon, which is about melee weapons that can be combined and separated, Gun Accessories, which is about things that are added to a gun to improve its efficiency or add certain effects, IKEA Weaponry, which is weapons that must be put together in order to function, and Swiss-Army Gun, which is a gun that has multiple functions available at all times.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 

    Live-Action TV 
  • Season 4 of Blake's 7 has a rifle that could be broken down into a large handgun. This was originally to be the standard weapon of the (anti)heroes, but they used the Scorpio clipguns instead. The rifle version can be seen in "Warlord" and the handgun version is used in the final episode by Avon to shoot Blake.
  • The Man from U.N.C.L.E. gun, or U.N.C.L.E Special. In it's handgun form it resembled a snubnosed Walther P-38, but could be modified into a carbine with barrel extension, pistol scope, an extended magazine and a collapsible shoulder stock.
  • In Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger / Power Rangers S.P.D., the Red Ranger's unique handguns can combine into a single blaster.

    Toys 
  • Transformers:
    • Hot Rod wielded twin Photon Laser blasters, while his Older and Wiser self, Rodimus Prime, wields a Photon Eliminator rifle. Toys designed to have Rodimus switch between the two states give him a combining blaster.
    • The Earthsiege line has the Battlechargers, whose rifles do this. You can plug the muzzle of either single-grip pistol into the back of the other to form a long rifle.note 
    • The Targetmaster-Micromasters from Siege are also somewhere along this concept. They are issued in pairs, and both are triple changers, each with robot, vehicle, and weapon modes. The weapon modes can then plug into each other to form larger, more impressive weapons.
    • The earlier Double Targetmasters are a much more simplified take on this; each of the small transforming weapons can plug their grips into holes on the back of the other Targetmaster to form a single combined weapon for the larger main robot (albeit said weapon was blatantly just two guns stuck together rather than undergoing any further refinement or changes to integrate better).

    Video Games 
  • The Arkham Knight in Batman: Arkham Knight has two handguns that connect into a sniper rifle, which he uses to shoot Batman from longer ranges. It also serves as this page's trope image.
  • In Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare, the Type-2 assault rifle can be split into dual-wielded machine pistols.
  • In Deathloop, the Strelak Verso are a pair of pistols that can be joined together to form a burst-fire SMG.
  • In Devil May Cry 5, the game features both Lady's original Kalina Ann rocket launcher from DMC3 (which has to be found in the game world) as well as a replica dubbed Kalina Ann II which Nico loans to Dante partway through the story. Obtaining both lets Dante purchase a Gunslinger style move that allows him to combine the two guns end-to-end and fire a large energy beam.
  • Rufus in Final Fantasy VII Remake swaps out the Sawed-Off Shotgun from the original game for a rifle that can split into two semi-automatic Hand Cannons.
  • Sazh in Final Fantasy XIII can combine his handguns into a rifle in several of his attacks.
  • Beckett in Gigantic wields dual machine pistols that can combine into a handheld cannon.
  • Gunslinger Stratos is a series of arcade games that let the player do this themselves: the controllers are a pair of light guns with magnets, letting them clip to each other in two orientations, which is how you switch weapons. All the player characters wield dual handguns that they combine into different forms.
  • Xigbar in Kingdom Hearts wields Arrowguns that can connect into a rifle. He avoids the Fridge Logic of how this sort of weapon would work thanks to his Arrowguns using magic projectiles launched from the tips; combining them into a rifle just lets him do a Charged Attack.
  • Splatoon 2 introduced a pair of guns called the Dualie Squelchers, which are actually the Dual Squelcher from the original Splatoon split into two halves. After a player performs a dodge roll with them, the two guns will be held together in a way that effectively converts them into a single Dual Squelcher.
  • Super Robot Wars Judgment has the Belzelute's Orgone Rifle: Mode A, where it combines its pistols with its rifle to form a bow-like Wave-Motion Tuning Fork.

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