Handguns

Handguns are small firearms that are designed to be worn on one's person ready for sudden action, and then drawn, aimed, and fired with one or both hands, though their construction and sight radius makes one-handed firing impractical. They are usually small and lightweight, making them easy to carry and conceal.

Glock 17 Gen 3, 9x19mm semi-auto pistol

While they fire less powerful projectiles than rifles, the recoil of a pistol is just as (if not more) difficult to handle compared to a rifle's recoil, especially for an inexperienced shooter. The weapon is held in the hand and cannot be braced against the shoulder, and has considerably less weight than a rifle to mitigate the recoil.

This added recoil and inability to brace the gun, combined with their much shorter barrels, also greatly reduces the accuracy of handguns. As a result, the majority of handguns are designed to be used at close-range (<30 yards), with simple sights that are not suited to long-range accuracy. They are difficult to aim at longer ranges (30-50 yards), especially at a target as small as a human head. Excluding some custom target-shooting variants, handguns are largely ineffective at ranges greater than 50 yards.

Heckler & Koch P9S, 9x19mm semi-auto pistol

While most handguns have a muzzle velocity ranging from 900-1,500 ft/s (274.32-457.2m/s), some pistols chambered for magnum calibers fire rounds travelling at 2000 ft/s (609.6m/s). Caliber, distance to the target, angle, and location of impact in the skull are all major variables. Generally speaking, one should not have a problem penetrating the skull.

For these reasons, handguns are best suited to close quarters combat, but even in this situation a carbine is preferable. Despite its flaws, the handgun does have a great deal of value as a secondary weapon, a fall-back option if the user runs out of ammunition for their primary weapon or otherwise cannot use it - for example, if the user is holding a bag with their off-hand.

Colt M1911A1, .45 ACP semi-auto pistol

Handguns are standard-issue for police officers and licensed security guards, and are likewise kept by civilians for both home defense and concealed carry, whereas shotguns and rifles (and their ammunition) are often locked away in armories and personal gun safes. In the USA, semi-automatic pistols have become more common than revolvers since the 1980s - however, revolvers remain popular.  

Proper Usage

When using a handgun, always remember to properly aim it, preferably with both hands (although this may not be possible in some situations). Attempting to dual-wield handguns and/or holding the gun sideways will likely result in wasted ammo, potentially costing the user's life. In close quarters, the handgun can be more effective than a long arm. It can allow the user to hold a light source or an additional melee weapon.

Never assume a weapon is unloaded, and when handling a handgun, always try to keep the barrel facing in a safe direction. Firing a weapon without hearing protection, especially in a confined space or in an area where sound reverberates strongly will cause hearing damage. Safety is a matter of building good habits.

The famous defensive pistol expert Jeff Cooper summed up firearm safety in four rules:

1. "There is no such thing as an unloaded firearm. The only firearm you may consider unloaded is one you have personally checked and has not left your hand. The moment it leaves your grip you must consider that it has magically reloaded itself."
2. "Never point the muzzle at anything you are not willing to destroy. In regards to pointing an unloaded gun, see rule #1."
3. "Keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target. As a corollary, place only guarded trust in mechanical safety catches - they can and do fail."
4. "Always be sure of your target and what is behind it."

Semi-Automatic Pistols

Semi-automatic pistols are pistols that fire one round for each pull of the trigger, and use the energy derived from firing a cartridge to cycle the action, load another cartridge, and cock the weapon for another shot. Pistols in this category chamber cartridges ranging from .17HMR to .50AE, and range in capacity from under 6 rounds, to over 100. Although America's federal assault weapon ban ended in 2004, some states and counties still choose to enforce magazine capacity and bans on certain kinds of firearms and accessories. Availability of magazines that hold over 10 rounds can be limited depending on which state in America you find yourself in. However, law enforcement (state, municipal and federal) is exempt from such laws in all states, so obtaining a higher capacity magazine should be easy enough. Semi-automatic handguns feed from a magazine as opposed to revolvers, which feed from a revolving cylinder. Almost all modern semi-automatics utilize a detachable magazine. Semi-auto handguns can be reloaded by skilled operators in less than one second.

Smith & Wesson M&P40, .40 S&W semi-auto pistol

Many modern semi-automatic pistols also come equipped with the means to attach flashlights, lasers, suppressors, and other attachments that aid the operator in managing hostiles in a given environment. These advantages have led to semi-auto pistols replacing revolvers as the standard sidearm of most law enforcement agencies since the 1980s in America.

However, a semi-auto handgun is relatively complex compared to a revolver, with more moving parts, which increases the chances that a malfunction will occur, especially if the weapon isn't properly maintained or held correctly when firing.  The semi-automatic should be approached with the same caution one would give an automobile. Preventive maintenance is a must if reliability is to be ensured.

Common pistol calibres include 9x19mm, .45 ACP, and .40 S&W. These are sufficient for fighting most zombies at close range - however, it is not advisable to fight zombies wearing ballistic helmets (or are naturally armored) or raiders wearing body armor with these weapons.

Revolvers

S&W Model 10, a .38 Special revolver

Revolvers are fed through a chamber that rotates whenever the gun is cocked. They are known for being extremely reliable weapons - it is often said that a revolver will never fail to fire, no matter how much abuse it is put through (although as with any gun, the individual parts can still be damaged, particularly the hammer), but such notions are false; revolvers generally require as much maintenance as any other kind of firearm, and if the trigger mechanism of a revolver fails, it can be much more difficult to repair than nearly any other handgun mechanism. Rounds can be left chambered in a revolver indefinitely.  

Colt Anaconda, a .44 Magnum revolver

To ready a revolver for firing, the user must load cartridges into the cylinder and close it. "Single-action" revolvers require the hammer to be pulled back before every shot, while "double-action" revolvers do not. Some revolvers can function using both actions.

On the flip side, revolvers hold less ammunition than semi-autos (revolver capacities generally range from 5 to 8 rounds, but typically hold six), take longer to reload (though speed loaders and moon clips can offset this, to a degree), are louder, have fewer recoil countermeasures than semi-automatic pistols, and cannot have suppressors fitted (with a few notable exceptions). Revolvers may or may not be more common than semi-autos depending on where you live.

Revolvers typically use more powerful ammunition than semi-automatic pistols, including .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum. However, .38 Special, a round comparable to 9x19mm, is also a very common revolver calibre. The high-energy nature of these rounds mean that they can kill a raider even if they are wearing a typical ballistic helmet - however, they are still ineffective against most body armor vests. Backface deformation is probably not enough to kill a zombie wearing a ballistic helmet - it has to be a clean penetration. Naturally-armored zombies are 50/50 either way - depending on the strength of the zombie's natural armor and the round used, it could kill, weaken the skull, or be completely ineffective.

Machine Pistols

Machine pistols are self-loading handgun-style weapons that are capable of firing more than one cartridge per pull of the trigger. They may be a fully-automatic version of an existing semi-automatic pistol (such as the Glock 18, which is a select-fire variant of the Glock 17), or a purpose-built machine pistol (such as the MAC-10 or Micro Uzi). They are typically less accurate than most long guns, have a very high rate of fire (higher than many assault rifles), and are more difficult to control than most people would think. Machine pistols - contrary to popular perception - actually have more felt recoil than most rifles due to their low weight, a problem which is often compounded by the weapon's rate of fire. To compensate for this, some machine pistols have stocks to brace against the user's shoulder.

Micro Uzi, 9x19mm machine pistol

Beretta 93R, 9x19mm machine pistol. Based on the Beretta 92

For all intents and purposes, machine pistols are a few seconds of suppressing fire in a small package. An inexperienced operator may have difficulty maintaining effective fire on target, and will likely expend more ammunition than necessary. These problems are solved when the gun is used in semi-auto mode, but then you may as well just have an ordinary handgun. If you find yourself with a machine pistol in the zombie apocalypse, hold onto it, as it still makes for a good sidearm - but there's no reason to specifically seek one out over a semi-automatic handgun, and you should still make it your priority to find a decent rifle or shotgun. Semi-automatic fire is recommended against zombies, while short and controlled bursts are a good idea to use against raiders.

Machine pistols are typically chambered in the same calibres as semi-automatic pistols, such as 9x19mm and .45 ACP. Just as in semi-automatics, these rounds are effective against unarmored targets at close range but useless against armor.

Access to automatic weapons - especially of this small size - is either prohibited or tightly controlled in most countries.

Calibers

Smaller caliber handguns, such as those chambered in 9mm and .38 Special, have less recoil and, with the exception of revolvers, can hold more ammunition in a magazine, allowing the person wielding them to kill more zombies before reloading. Meanwhile, more powerful guns, such as those chambered in heavier cartridges can more reliably kill wild animals more easily. These, however, often have high recoil and lower magazine capacity.

The largest handgun cartridges, such as .44 Magnum and .50 AE, typically constitute overkill against zombies or human raiders, and may still fail to penetrate armor plates used in armor vests despite their high energy. Pistols firing such cartridges are loud, heavy, bulky, have great recoil, and have low magazine capacity. They usually cannot be suppressed, either. As such, these large calibres are only useful in edge cases, such as killing large predators.

Various common handgun calibers.

Handguns chambered in the .22 Long Rifle cartridge are of a controversial note. Though underpowered by conventional standards, and usually not advised for modern combat, the round is easy to transport (fifty rounds can fit in the palm of your hand). It is plentiful and has little recoil, noise, and muzzle flash, and is effective at the close-quarters ranges where the handgun comes into its own, and has more than enough energy to penetrate a human skull within the maximum effectiveness of the cartridge. However, they are quite ineffective against raiders, due to their low stopping power and inability to penetrate even soft armor vests.

The following are some of the more common handgun calibers in North America. If your main choice of weapon is chambered in a round that is not on the list, then it is recommended that you stockpile ammo in the event of an emergency and learn how to reload ammunition. Exotic calibers will likely be much more difficult to acquire.

• .22 Long Rifle
• .25 ACP
• .32 ACP
• .380 ACP
• 9x19mm
• .38 Special
• .357 Magnum
• .40 S&W
• .44 Magnum
• .45 ACP