Having expressed some experience about real-world pistols, I thought I'd offer some experience from using airsoft handguns against airsoft rifles. (Short version... DON'T! But play airsoft if you get the chance. It's fun.) On Sunday I had some considerable entertainment with my new pistol. It's a Western Arms copy of a Beretta 92FS, chambered for 6mm TM, and it's _fun_ to shoot. (WA call it their 'Perfect Version' and it deserves the name: it looks and feels and almost shoots like the real thing) I came to the conclusion that if you have a rifle, a pistol is technically a waste of time and you're better off fixing a stoppage with the rifle, than drawing and using the pistol. (and that, for real, you're much better off using the weight for rifle ammo than a pistol) On the other hand, the pistol makes you feel better, especially when you use it to fire a dozen rounds blindly and one-handed over a barricade. Pointless and ineffective, but it makes you feel happier. It's also handy for a suicide charge when you rush the enemy flag with your rifle in one hand and your pistol in the other, wasting rounds wildly and achieving nothing but amused notoriety. (Great fun in a game where being 'killed' just means walking out and waiting for the next round - not much use in reality) So, I conclude that my pistol is a silly, self-indulgent waste of time and money. But I still found excuses to draw it and loose off a few rounds when the enemy interrupted a reload (airsoft, like real combat, is characterised by prodigious ammunition expenditure... I was getting through ~600 rounds per engagement, Hazel routinely burns off over a thousand) or just when I felt like it. Also, the fact that it looks and feels so realistic My main weapon is a Steyr AUG[1] (well, technically, Tokyo Marui's airsoft copy of it) and to be honest it's a superb all-round weapon. Same handy length as an M4 carbine, but with a longer barrel (important with those 0.2-gram BBs and smoothbore barrels) The pistol, I bought for fun and to pose with. It fills both roles admirably. An ostentatiously holstered handgun (in my case, an Uncle Mike's tactical thigh holster on an Ibex tactical vest) does add a swagger to one's step, plus it really is an entertaining way to make a last defiant noise before being overwhelmed by superior force. Nobody's ever won an airsoft game with a pistol, but at least many of us have had fun losing with them. Yes, I know it's silly to go into the woods and trade harmless[2] automatic gunfire with strangers. No, I don't care, because it's _fun_. How applicable are the lessons to reality? Not very, but not _wholly_ out of scope either. [1] The TM AUG is very hard to tell from the real thing, even to being the same weight (the scope is by Tasco, but is a good 2x15 unit). I _like_ the AUG, especially the ergonomics and the two-stage trigger. Hazel has an 'AK Beta-Spetznaz', which is a mostly-fictional weapon - imagine an AKSU with a fixed stock (holds a big high-ampere-hour battery that lasts all day) and all-black furniture, with a Knight's rail behind the muzzle. She's put a forward handgrip on that, and uses a pair of high-capacity magazines clamped side-by-side for 1,200 rounds of on-gun firepower. She likes her little friend and is better at airsofting than I am. I knew I was right to love her. [2] Eye protection is mandatory. And the high-powered, manually-cocked sniper rifles hurt like hell if you get hit in the forehead, reinforcing why you never take your eye protection off in the game zone. Other than that, and the usual trip/fall/splinter/flailing branch hazards of running around in woodland, it's a very safe sport. Much better than paintball IMO...