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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7560908" data-attributes="member: 4937">Pistols: Not currently a military weapon but their origins are in a military weapons, specifically as weapons for cavalry and naval personnel during boarding actions.  The pistols designed as military weapons are generally much larger and longer barreled than those that are used for personnel protection (such as which are issued to officers or carried by civilians).  Many of the early Naval and Cavalry pistols had more kinetic energy than any pistol up until the Magnum loads of the mid 20th century.  I've heard of skilled pistol wielders hitting targets reliably at up to 70m, but under 20m is more realistic and in the midst of a running fight the historical evidence is that even that distance can prove difficult.  They are still plenty capable of killing someone with an unlucky shot at much further out than you are likely to be able to successfully aim.Shotguns: Origins of the weapon is as a 'fowling piece' for hunting bird.  Characteristics of the weapon are not what is generally portrayed in Hollywood or in some games.  It is not an area of effect weapon, and it's not particularly good for 'clearing a room'.  Depending on the choke, at 15 yards the spread might just be 4" in diameter, and on my relatively unchocked double barrel the buckshot spread at 40 yards was just under two feet.  Rather than simulating them as area of effect weapons for clearing out areas, it's probably more realistic to simulate them as having a bonus to accuracy in close quarters.  The shotgun gets some minor use as a military weapon.  In WWI the USA issued pump action shotguns with bayonet lugs to its assault troops for use in close quarters trench fighting, since they could be fired more rapidly and handled more readily than battle rifles in close quarters.  (Semiautomatic rifles at the time were very unreliable.)  They were so feared by German troops that it prompted Germany to demand the weapon be considered an illegal weapon of war (this, while Germany was using chlorine gas).  They still get some use as breaching tool for opening doors and the like, but have largely been superceded by submachine guns and assault rifles as close quarters military weapons.Wild West: The most common weapon was neither the pistol nor the shotgun.   It was the carbine - a comparatively short rifle designed to shoot a pistol cartridge.  The iconic example is the Winchester model 1873, which was commonly chambered either for the .32-30 or .38-40 - two of the most common pistol rounds of the day.  They were more accurate and powerful than pistols, and since they used the same ammunition as your 'six shooter' you only had to carry one kind.</blockquote>

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