A pistol is simply a small hand gun fired by a spring mechanism. Pistols can be fired in hand-to-hand combat at point blank range as well as at longer ranges. Because pistols take a long time to reload it is usual to carry two, so that one is always ready for firing while the other is being reloaded.
Weapon | Range | Strength |
Pistol | 6" | 4 |
A pistol takes a complete turn to reload, so you may only fire every other turn. If you have two pistols then you can fire one every turn.
A pistol can be used in hand-to-hand fighting as well as for shooting. A model with a sword or other weapon in one hand and a pistol in the other receives an extra attack. In hand-to-hand fighting work out pistol hits exactly like hits from a sword or other hand weapon. Successful hits are resolved with a strength of 4 regardless of the firer's strength. You don't have to reload a pistol in hand-to-hand fighting as it is assumed the pistols are also used as heavy clubs (many have weighted butts for this purpose) but after combat is over you cannot shoot with pistols if they were used in hand-to-hand fighting in the previous turn.
Pistols are even better at penetrating armour than their strength value of 4 suggests. Therefore the enemy must deduct a further -1 from his armour save, so the save modifier is -2 rather than -1 as normal for a strength 4 hit.