Handgun



 (which include pistols and revolvers, and are also referred to as side arms) are a type of secondary weapon in the Call of Duty series. Handguns usually have moderate stopping power and are able to pull off many shots in quick succession. Lower caliber handguns usually have higher magazine capacities, while the higher caliber handguns are louder, have more recoil and a smaller magazine capacity. In general, semi-auto pistols are less powerful than revolvers.

Compared to other weapons, handguns can be drawn the fastest, and switching to a sidearm is always faster than reloading. When aiming down the sights they have the fastest ADS time, have no zoom, and they retain full "look/aim" movement speed when doing so. However, handguns have moderate damage (if it's a revolver) and sometimes low if it's a pistol with a magazine (such as the M1911) outside of their usually short ranges. The low magazine size and semi-automatic nature limits them to ADS outside of point-blank ranges. Since their hipfire spread tends to be relatively poor, the user will often find him/herself running out of ammunition should they attempt to kill an enemy without aiming. Additionally, players cannot simply "sweep" the crosshairs over an opponent while continuously holding down the trigger and expect a kill, as every shot must be fired manually. There are some exceptions to this though, which include handguns with a high rate of fire combined with high magazine capacity. Handguns are some of the most commonplace weapons in the Call of Duty series, with the M1911 appearing in more games than any other weapon featured in Call of Duty.

Call of Duty 2

 * Colt .45
 * Luger
 * TT-30
 * Webley

Call of Duty 3

 * Colt .45
 * Walther P38

Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS)

 * M1911
 * Webley
 * Luger
 * Nambu
 * Tokarev TT-33

Trivia

 * In Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive and Call of Duty 2, handguns have a degree of inaccuracy when aiming down the sights, which makes them harder to use at long range.
 * Tactical Knife kills do not count towards the prestige challenges, but they do count for the marksman challenges.
 * However, in Black Ops II, they will count towards bloodthirsty medals needed for camouflages.