What about pistols?

[LiberalPacifist]

Damn near anything you can do with a pistol, you can do better with a carbine.

-Longer sight radius
-Higher magazine capacity
-Three points of stability rather than two
-Longer Barrel

Pistols are generally only useful as a backup until you can get your primary reloaded / unjammed, or scavenge another primary from somebody else. About the only exceptions are when concealability is your primary motivating factor or when working from behind an older ballistic shield.

Or badassery, assuming you can pull it off. That's another exception.

But really, You WILL have much more fun with an AEG as a primary, plus it's more reliable in general.

[CommieHunter]

You can use a primary outdoors. It's more challenging, but some players enjoy it.

[Carpet]

I use to carry a TM Mk23, without the extended barrel to use for silent take-downs, it was great for that. But I would never use a pistol as a primary if I had a choice, although my lack of run away instincts has left me out of ammo and nothing but a pistol many times, and it doesn't always end up bad.

My .2 cents is simply, pistols are for "oh shit"/fun/specific situations, but not a primary.

[shakespeare]

I would only recommend the use of a pistol as a primary in CQC--and even then, most people would do better with a SMG, small carbine, or sometimes a shotgun. However, for some players, the small amount of extra mobility, and the speed with which a pistol can be pointed could be slightly beneficial.
Pistols really shine as secondary weapons for CQC, and are somewhat beneficial outdoors, in case of primary weapon failure or running out of ammunition.

[shakespeare]

EDIT: oops, doublepost

[Philip J. Fry]

Hmm...yes, you're 88, so you know everything. Please use a real age--like 15, as befits your question.

I'll tell you what. We'll go play in the woods. You and all the pistols you want. I'll bring my M16. We'll see who actually shoots who more.

Want to put money on it?

I kinda dont want to. Ok, well I am 15 you must know everything.

[Catch22]

Then change you age in your profile, please.

[ogrejager]

Hmm...yes, you're 88, so you know everything. Please use a real age--like 15, as befits your question.

Ok, well I am 15 you must know everything.

Damn, I'm good.

No, I don't know everything. That's what separates me from you 15 year olds. You think you know everything. I know I don't, but do, actually know more than you. A 25 year head start helps.

[lilwil]

They could work for cqc. Some people use them outdoors, but they rarely hit anything.

I beg to differ. It seems every time Attack37 pulls his pistol out, I get nailed in the head. Or that time his glock lodged a bb on the inside of my throat. Man those were some spicy buffalo wings after that game.

I would say the main disadvantage would be clip size. Other then that, be mobile, know your weapon range, and close the gap and you will be just as lethal as any other platform out there.

[Helo]

Yes. It depends. Range. I've been playing down here with just a pistol for about a month now, due to a combination of ammo not feeding and mags jamming. Running just a pistol is scarily effective IF you do it right, have enough cover, are in really good shape, and ether have some cover fire or are extremely stealthy. Not l33t airsoft stealth, I mean real, scarily hard to keep track of in real life stealth. I'm not very stealthy so it only works half the time, but it's fun as hell once in awhile. My first choice is an AEG, any AEG. But the pistol works now and again.

[Patrick750]

if what you mean by "woods" is your freinds backyard then a pistol would work. Other than that and CQB, get an aeg.

[Falcon7]

They could work for cqc. Some people use them outdoors, but they rarely hit anything.

I beg to differ. It seems every time Attack37 pulls his pistol out, I get nailed in the head. Or that time his glock lodged a bb on the inside of my throat. Man those were some spicy buffalo wings after that game.

I would say the main disadvantage would be clip size. Other then that, be mobile, know your weapon range, and close the gap and you will be just as lethal as any other platform out there.

I have yet to meet this mystical unicorn of a man. However, there was this one guy at this one game(specific, right), and he hit a sniper, with his pistol, from outside the sniper's range. If you have the skills it can work, but you would probably be even more useful with an AEG.

[Snowman]

I was using a borrowed TM MK23 the other day, best thing evar. I hit a guy from 100+ ft away in 3 or 4 shots. I was using a couple spare mags, and I was just pointing, not even aiming.

Get one. Give it to me. I'll give you an imaginary BJ.

[Steve]

I still maintain that identical shooters with identical trigger time will generally perform better with an AEG than they will will a pistol. Leaving aside, again, concealment or ballistic shields, anything you can do with a pistol, you can do better with a carbine.

Especially CQB.

Pistols are good for when your primary goes down. This is more important in CQB than in the woods, IMHO. Indoors, you can dump the 15+ rounds out of your secondary while moving to cover to fix your primary (reload, unjam, whatever). In the woods, you are at longer ranges generally, and can maneuver backwards to cover rather than having to rely on ballistic cover to let you assault forward into a sheltered place.

And as for people "owning" with handguns indoors, my experience has been, again, that guys who know what they are doing do better with a carbine than with a pistol. And guys who know what they are doing with a carbine generally eat guys who know what they are doing with a pistol. Guys who are good with a pistol eat noobs for lunch, regardless of how they are armed.

For folks who don't know what ptoc looked like, here's a video:

[ogrejager]

I still agree with Steve. Even people (not the movies, but real people) who are good with pistols get a long gun when the shit really hits the fan.