And now, because I get way too obsessed over the gear in this game and I feel like I should just have something to reference next time instead of reading through all the books to find the perfect gun, here is an analysis of every firearm in Shadowrun 5th Edition.
My thoughts on the weapons from the German-only sourcebook State of the Art are based on translations of the weapons provided to me by Reddit user Silmacil.
Other Shadowrun Armory Posts
ASSAULT RIFLES
Ares Alpha
Core
The golden boy of the assault rifle category. Other guns are more accurate, others have deeper magazines, others even have some of that lovely integral recoil compensation, but no other gun has everything. I’d call Ares’ flagship rifle a jack-of-all-trades weapon, except everything about it is better than what you’d expect from that description. The Alpha is the workhorse of any automatics-focused gunslinger, one that you can buy and run with out of the box without necessarily needing to spend time and money on customization. It’s already got a smartgun system, it’s already got an underslung grenade launcher, it can do everything from semi- to full-auto, it’s got plenty of bullets in the mag, it’s got inherent recoil comp that you can improve even further if you’ve got a few nuyen for some cheap gas venting and stock modifications…you just can’t get better than this. Grade A weapon, from everyone’s favorite weapons corp.
While the gun itself is beautiful, there are two minor issues to keep in mind when owning one as a shadowrunner. First off, it’s the most expensive assault rifle, as befitting its status as a top-shelf Ares weapon. Second, and this is a problem shared with many other rifles, it’s illegal as hell, and difficult to hide, so you’re not going to be able to take it everywhere, and if you get caught with it you’d better be ready for things to get loud. Those concerns aside, the Alpha is what we’re going to be comparing every other weapon of its class to, because if you think you’re going to see enough heavy combat to require an assault rifle then you’re going to need a damn good reason to risk your life with anything less than the best. And make no mistake, the Alpha is the best.
AK-97
Core
Durable as fuck baseline rifle, and a damn fine selection if you just want something to throw lead when you pull the trigger. If your local gangers are on top of their game, then they’ve probably got a couple crates of these for when they need to get serious with someone, and every local militia in the world uses them as the tools of the revolution. That common nature means they’re less likely to get traced back to you after a run, which might be something to consider. Strap a smartlink to the top, add a foregrip and a shock pad, and you’ve got something almost as good as a factory-model Alpha for less than half the cost. It is also–rarely for an assault rifle–restricted rather than forbidden, so as long as you have the right (fake) license you won’t get arrested just for owning one. In short, I consider this to be the go-to gun for people who need a big plan B piece but don’t see combat as a full-time job. The Alpha is the superior weapon in many ways, but the AK-97 will get the job done.
AK-98
Run & Gun
Same line as the AK-97, except for those people who need a little more excitement in their lives. In addition to having an underslung grenade launcher, the 98 model is right back to being illegal even with a license, so you lose some of that protection from legal scrutiny that an AK usually buys you. The grenade launcher is also wildly inaccurate, but that won’t matter as much if you get a smartlink. Alternatively, you could load it with gas grenades instead of more permanent solutions, so that missing your mark has less potential to have catastrophic results.
If you want a cheap two-for-the-price-of-one gun to stick on a drone, the AK-98 is an excellent pick. If you want a grenade launcher on a gun that you expect to carry yourself, just get an Alpha already.
Colt M23
Core
The M23 is cheap, and you get what you pay for. That’s about all that can be said for it. A decently-sized magazine and ready availability are the only things that might commend it to your average runner, that and the low price tag. I would not recommend using this on anything other than drones unless you go and mod it heavily–add in some gas venting and a smartgun system, and the M23 begins to resemble an actual firearm. Even then, though, the AK-97 is a much better option on the cheaper market.
If your local gangbangers are less well-off, but you still live in a seriously dangerous area where they need to be heavily armed or get trampled under, expect to see some of these around the neighborhood. Don’t dismiss them out of hand–shitty guns in inexperienced hands can still kill you if they send enough bullets your way–but don’t bother using one yourself.
FN HAR
Core
The HAR is, essentially, the upscale corporate counterpart to the AK-97. This gun is more often faced by shadowrunners than used, as it’s a perennial favorite of security response teams. The included gas venting and laser sight make it easy to use without being expensive, which is exactly what the corps want for their expendable goon squads. If you want to use one of these yourself you’ll be able to refill your ammo supply from fallen sec troopers, or blend in as one if you have the right uniform. Just remember to ditch any spare magazines you pick up from dropped security weapons before you leave the facility, as they’ve probably got RFID tags in ‘em.
This gun can work for you for the same reason it works for corpsec: it’s decently cheap and easy to handle, while still hitting almost as hard as an Alpha.
Yamaha Raiden
Core
Now, here’s a gun that can give the Alpha a run for its money. It’s got less inherent recoil compensation and can’t fire semi-auto, but better accuracy and a whopping sixty-round magazine. This is the weapon of choice for the burstfire maverick, someone who has the skill to make use of that excellent accuracy. Be sure to mod some recoil compensation into it, but if you do that it’s hard to find better than this gun. The Raiden’s only real problem is that it’s just as illegal as the Alpha, and rarer–you won’t be starting the game with this beauty.
Nissan Optimum II
Run & Gun
This is an older model, and it shows. The Optimum II has got the same accuracy as the Alpha and the same built-in smartlink, but hits in a lower weight class and carries less ammo in the mag. The included shock pad on the stock is a nice touch, but those cost a pittance to buy yourself and you can throw one on the Alpha for better effect. The one interesting feature the Optimum brings to the table is the underbarrel shotgun, which is useful if you like to be able to switch between different ammo types at the drop of a hat–load the shotgun with gel rounds and the rifle clip with APDS and you’ve got a nice multipurpose tool. That said, the high price and rarity of this piece mean you’re probably better off picking up something that can give you more bang for your buck, unless you need to impersonate an Imperial Japanese Marine for some reason.
HK XM30
Run & Gun
The XM30 assault rifle can also be turned into three other guns, two of which–the LMG and sniper variants–use different skills than the base gun (Heavy Weapons and Longarms, specifically). Accuracy is decent across the board, if somewhat weak for a sniper rifle, and damage is universally low, which plays to operators with higher weapons skill. The ability to fit either an underbarrel grenade launcher or shotgun to any of the different builds is a nice touch, but if you can afford to carry around a bunch of different guns then you can find a better weapon for each and every possible version of the XM30. On the plus side, you only have to install customizations once, which makes logistics easier if you want to develop a collection of different weapons for different roles. Also, if viewed strictly as a submachine gun, the carbine variant is quite good, with higher damage and armor penetration than any of the pure submachine guns, though the magazine size isn’t anything to write home about. Keep this hidden under a longcoat and you’ve got a nice surprise for when you need to go loud.
Ares HVAR
Run & Gun
For when you need to make people keep their fucking heads down. Ares’ High Velocity Assault Rifle has a combination of high inherent recoil reduction and a sizable magazine meant to encourage operators to flip the fire selector to rock-and-roll and never let it up. And you’re going to need that full-auto ability on this one, because the HVAR also has the lowest damage of the assault rifle class. That, and the lack of ability to take barrel modifications, puts the HVAR in a definite niche category, with better options available for almost every purpose. If all you want is two full turns of suppressive fire, look no further; for a reliable means of making the opposition drop in a more permanent way, keep moving.
That said, the HVAR is a very nice weapon for people for whom combat is a side job. Your decker or rigger who still wants to be effective in combat, though perhaps not as effective as a dedicated street sam. What Ares’ high-velocity toy lacks in weight it makes up with its ability to throw absolute piles of lead downrange, and for someone who isn’t likely going to be strong enough to handle heavy recoil without help from gun mods the HVAR’s extensive built-in recoil reduction is a godsend. Those full-auto bursts compensate for the lack of skill in the average HVAR user, keeping them competitive in a firefight.
Shiawase Arms Monsoon
Gun H(e)aven 3
This is a weird one. Technically speaking, it’s got a staggeringly-large capacity of one-hundred-twenty rounds at its disposal, but those are split between six different barrels instead of one clip, which makes reloading a pain in the ass. Its penetration is weak for a rifle, and it can’t burstfire, which limits you to either single shots or full-auto. For all that it’s pretty cheap for what that nuyen gets you, and it’s certainly not a bad weapon. Just strange. Use suppressive fire liberally and remember to aim between long bursts, and it’ll work out fine.
Also, as this fine gentleman on Reddit pointed out, you can keep different ammo types in each barrel. With six barrels of twenty rounds each, that’s quite a spread you could get going there. I’d suggest half APDS and half stick-n-shock, but with that many barrels you could also get some of the more conditional ammo types as well–a barrel each of AV rounds and flechettes for exceptionally hard or soft targets would be great additions.
Colt Inception
Gun H(e)aven 3
For the discerning marksman. The Inception has excellent accuracy made better with a built-in laser sight, less armor penetration than you might wish but some built-in recoil comp and a halfway decent magazine size. It’s also legal to own, which for a weapon of this caliber is unexpected. The lack of full-auto makes this more of a DMR than a full assault rifle, but it’s not bad at all in that role, if that’s what you’re looking for. It might be a bit less versatile than the competition, but it’s still a respectable tool for someone with the high skills needed to take advantage of its accuracy.
Krupp Arms Kriegfaust
Gun H(e)aven 3
This thing is trying to be a marksman rifle, and not doing it quite as well as the Inception. While it does have higher accuracy and a nice scope, it also carries fewer bullets (in a drum instead of a box magazine, for some reason) and hits for less damage. The ad copy claims that it uses reinforced materials and high-caliber bullets, but the stats do not back that claim up. It’s relatively cheap, but still more expensive than some guns that, except for that beautifully high accuracy, are much better. For the same price you could buy yourself an AK and some mods, and save yourself a whole lot of pain later on when someone you’re trying to put down gets back up again.
SBd-44
Gun H(e)aven 3
Don’t make me laugh.
Also, don’t buy this gun. The fact that it’s cheaper than most pistols should be warning enough, but just in case you decide to commit suicide by walking into a fight with this, know that the accuracy is garbage, as is the ammo count and penetration. Absolutely no attempt has been made to make this damn piece usable by compensating for recoil, and while the damage is decent you’re not going to be putting enough rounds on target for that to matter. This might be good mounted on a cheap suicide drone–slap it on a Crawler and you’ve got a 7000-nuyen creep capable of autofire, which ain’t a bad price for a combat bot–but under no circumstances should you put one in metahuman hands, unless those hands belong to someone you don’t really like.
Ultimax Rain Forest Carbine
Gun H(e)aven 3
Despite being called a carbine, the Ultimax RFC is basically a short-range, extremely cheap sniper rifle. This beauty comes with exceptional accuracy, a very nice scope, high-caliber damage and armor penetration and a respectable clip size for a semi-automatic weapon. If it weren’t semi-auto only, I’d be advising everyone to get this thing. If you’re skilled enough that losing the ability to burst-fire doesn’t matter to you, then by all means buy this gun, because anything that gets hit by it is fucking paste.
EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that the stats for the RF Carbine in Gun H(e)aven 3 are changed in the errata for Shadowrun Missions. Normally I consider Missions-specific errata to be optional rather than required, but the stats listed there for the Carbine make a hell of a lot more sense than the ones in the book, turning it from an extremely powerful rifle to a weapon that, while still hitting hard and shooting reasonably straight, isn’t quite the giant looming over its fellows that it used to be. If you’re using the Missions stats (and you probably should), pick up a Carbine if you want a burst-fire rifle that you can still legally own. If you aren’t concerned with the law, though, get an Alpha instead–it’s better, and also cheaper.
Cavalier Frontier
Street Lethal
The Frontier is a decent rifle, but is kind of expensive for what you get. Melee hardening and extreme environment adaptation are not that useful, in my experience, and do not justify that much of a price tag. Maybe your situation is different–maybe you’re running week-long ops in terrible wildernesses. If you aren’t, though, just buy an AK already.
Krime Happiness
Street Lethal
What the hell is this?
I mean…it does carry a lot of bullets, and it’s certainly dirt-cheap, but it doesn’t fire less than full-auto, doesn’t have any recoil compensation to speak of, fires low-caliber bullets for an assault rifle, and only has three accuracy. Also any sort of glitch will make it continue firing until you run out of ammo, which is an unpleasant sort of situation. I can see the niche it’s supposed to occupy–a machine gun for people who can’t afford a machine gun–but I really, really hope to never find myself there.
Save your money until you can buy a proper machine gun, and stop wasting my time.
Onotari HL-13
Street Lethal
Less expensive than the HK XM30, and with fewer options, but the same sort of idea. This weapon simplifies a lot of logistics, letting you apply mods once and carry around whatever sized configuration you feel like you need that day. If you want to have a wide variety of weapons to choose from, but can’t afford a lot of luggage, consider the HL-13. The XM30 is better, but also a thousand nuyen more expensive, so if you decide to go for a modular gun you’re going to be making your decision between these two based solely on price.
HK G12A4
State of the Art
This is the default rifle used by the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of the ADL. As you might expect of a standard-issue combat weapon it’s easy to use, reliable, and effective. Unfortunately, it’s also more expensive than the superior Ares Alpha. I suspect HK is bilking the government a bit here, to be honest. If you want what the G12A4 can give you, I highly recommend getting an Alpha instead.
Steyr UCR
State of the Art
An Austrian police rifle with an underbarrel shotgun. As compared to the Nissan Optimum II, the Japanese military rifle with an underbarrel shotgun, the rifle part of the UCR is more accurate, while the shotgun part is less so. It’s also a good deal cheaper, which is nice, considering how unreasonably expensive the Optimum II is.
Overall, the damage on this rifle is a little light for my tastes, but the ability to quickly use different ammo types to resolve different problems is useful enough for me to overlook that downside. The weapon’s other stats are good, with decent accuracy and ammo capacity. Could use some increased recoil compensation, but that’s true of everything. Get this gun if you want a decent assault rifle that’s a little more versatile than your usual boomstick.
CARBINE
The Carbine is a class of weapon introduced in Street Lethal, with a weight between SMGs and assault rifles. They tend to have damage equivalent to lower-caliber assault rifles, with assault rifle armor penetration and SMG ranges. They’re also slightly easier to conceal than most assault rifles. They’re good to buy if you want to have heavy firepower on hand but you know that you’re not going to be able to hide a full-size rifle.
Ares Stalwart
Street Lethal
Rock-solid, no-frills, back-to-basics carbine. Which is unusual for Ares, to be honest–I’m used to them putting out the best-quality stuff out there, but this thing is just a super cheap bang-stick. It’s a perfectly reasonable weapon to buy and use, but you ought to add some targeting and recoil compensation modifications to it if you decide to go with this as your mainstay.
Colt M23A2
Street Lethal
Tacticool bullshit. The M23A2’s only redeeming feature is that single point of recoil compensation, but that’s not even close to being enough to save it from my disdain.
Honestly, it’s a solid enough firearm. If you find one in the wild, don’t feel bad about keeping it and using it. Just don’t buy one.
Izom Artemis
Street Lethal
Unless you really, really want that extra two points of concealability, don’t buy this gun. The AK-98 is the exact same thing but cheaper and better.
If you do decide you need a carbine as opposed to a full-size assault rifle, remember that the Artemis uses SMG ranges, not rifle ranges, which means that you’re going to be a hell of a lot closer to whatever you’re firing its grenade launcher at. Use with caution.
SUBMACHINE GUNS
Colt Cobra TZ-120
Core
The Cobra plays the FN HAR’s role in the submachine gun class, being the perfect combination of easy to handle and cheap that corps love for their security services. Colt’s flagship SMG isn’t especially stellar in any specific category, but it’s got all the functionality you really need right out of the box. Pick up a Cobra if you don’t want to have to mod your gun, but still want a good piece.
FN P93 Praetor
Core
This baby is the king of the SMG class, or at least king of the ones you can start the game with. It’s illegal to own, since it was designed for use specifically by Interpol agents, a detail which will likely make you easier to track down if you’re using it. If you’re careful about covering your tracks, however, the Praetor has got good accuracy, decent damage and inherent recoil compensation that can be boosted with a few judicious mod choices. If you’re picking up one of these, take the time to mod it, and treat it well, because this is a very nice gun. Its only downside is that it doesn’t come with an integrated smartgun system, instead packing a built-in flashlight, which is an odd design choice for an otherwise very advanced weapon.
If you’re considering getting a Praetor, you may also want to check out the HK 223C from State of the Art. The sourcebook is only published in German, unfortunately, but if you can translate it then the 223C is very similar to the Praetor except with slightly better damage.
HK 227
Core
A smart and respectable choice, if a little low on ammo for a weapon capable of full-auto fire. It doesn’t have the best stats, being one of the lower-damage SMGs and with only average accuracy, but it does come with a smartgun system and a sound suppressor, which helps keep it competitive. Definitely a professional choice, if not a stellar one.
Ingram Smartgun X
Core
The Smartgun X is for all your spray and pray needs. This weapon can’t go below burst-fire, and the magazine isn’t particularly deep, so don’t carry it into an extended firefight, but for most everyday uses the integral smartlink, suppressor and recoil comp make it an easily-handled and effective weapon. It’s not the most accurate gun in the world without the aid of the smartlink, so be careful of hackers.
SCK Model 100
Core
A decent, professional weapon with good stats all around, but nothing particularly special. Solid accuracy, nice damage and a bit of recoil comp with the stock, with the standard small SMG magazine made less onerous by the fact that it can’t do full-auto fire. That same lack makes the Model 100 more for highly-skilled professionals than someone just wants to be able to contribute in a firefight. Don’t bother picking it up if you can’t reliably put rounds on target.
Uzi IV
Core
This old-school submachine gun’s only real virtue is its cheapness. Damage is low, accuracy is low (if helped by the included laser sight), and it can only do burst-fire. Frankly, I can’t see a reason for someone to get this gun. Someone looking for a cheap automatic would be better served by a machine pistol.
Ares Executioner
Run & Gun
This would be a professional, solid choice for an SMG even if it couldn’t turn into a briefcase at the touch of a button. The folding stock and suppressor mean it’s quiet and easy to handle, and while the damage, accuracy and magazine aren’t really anything special they’re certainly good enough for work against people who aren’t expecting you to be armed, which is sort of the point. If you have the money to spare for this admittedly expensive toy, and you often work in corporate environments where you need to sneak in a gun, this is something you might want to pick up and keep in your back pocket. You probably won’t ever need it, but if you do you’ll be damn glad to have it.
HK Urban Combat
Run & Gun
Remember when I said that the Praetor was the king of the SMG class? That’s only because you can’t get the Urban Combat at character generation without taking a Restricted Gear quality. This piece is slick as fuck, with the highest accuracy of the SMG class, some fat heavy hitters in a deeper than usual magazine, and hydraulic recoil comp. And, best of all, it doesn’t pop on MAD scanners at all, so if you have a nice coat to hide it under–a Mortimer of London overcoat, perhaps, or a simple lined coat–you can bring this baby right through security. The downside to this lovely feature is that it can’t take any further modifications, which means your average runner isn’t likely to make much use of the full-auto feature. Also, it costs almost as much as an Alpha assault rifle. But if you can afford it–and if you can find one–this is the most useful tool you’ll find in the submachine gun category.
Krime Spree
Gun H(e)aven 3
I’m honestly not sure who, exactly, this gun is meant for. It’s marketed to metahuman shooters such as orcs and trolls, and frankly in my mind offering such a shitty weapon to that particular market makes Krime seem kind of racist. Its one virtue is the inherent recoil compensation, and the fact that it costs very little of your precious nuyen–but much like with the Uzi IV, if you’re looking for a cheap automatic you’d be better served by a machine pistol than this rust collector.
Ares Sigma-3
Gun H(e)aven 3
Ares is, for the most part, my favorite weapons manufacturer. If you see their name on something then you can be guaranteed that it will be, if not top of its class, then at least very close. The Sigma-3 is a small exception to that rule. It’s not bad, mind you, just confusing. It’s an SMG that’s trying to be an assault rifle, which I guess isn’t that surprising coming from Ares, with a drum magazine that I can’t help but feel would just make the damn thing harder to hide, thus negating the main reason to get a submachine gun instead of a rifle. It does hit respectably hard, for what it’s worth, and that drum mag certainly won’t run empty on you, and it does have a lot of fancy features out of the box including a powered slide mount to make it easier to modify to your own tastes, but I can’t shake the feeling that if you want what the Sigma-3 is trying to offer you should just buy yourself a Kalashnikov.
This is a weapon that seems good, that I really want to be good, but I just can’t figure out a role for.
EDIT: As WillAsher pointed out in the comments, with the release of the Hard Targets sourcebook the Sigma-3 gets a lot more interesting, since you can put an ammo skip system on any weapon with a cylinder or drum magazine to easily switch between ammo types. Slap one of those on the Sigma and with fifty rounds in the drum you can be prepared for a lot of different situations. Will recommends twenty ex-ex, twenty APDS, and ten miscellaneous or mission specific rounds like silver, wood pulp or capsule, and that seems like a damn fine loadout to me. Fitting that much versatility into a package the size of an SMG takes the Sigma-3 from being just an assault rifle wannabe to being useful in its own right.
Cavalier Arms Gladius
Gun H(e)aven 3
Much like the Krime Spree, this is a cheapass SMG with shit accuracy but an inexplicable point of inherent recoil comp. Unlike the Krime Spree, the Gladius has a laser sight to help compensate for how bad the weapon is otherwise, can be toggled to burst-fire, and has a collapsible stock to help deal with the recoil. It’s a better weapon than the Spree that is also cheaper than Krime’s model, so if you just want something that will put bullets down range without actually hitting a damn thing, I guess you could do worse. Ain’t that a glowing recommendation.
Seriously though, if you’re considering this thing, just buy a Steyr TMP or Black Scorpion machine pistol instead.
Esprit Tsunami
Street Lethal
For when you really want to hose down an area without caring if you might hit someone you like. This is a weapon you’re more likely to see in the hands of security than shadowrunners, due to the profile sharing feature. If you want to use one, though, it’s actually a pretty good weapon, mostly because of the fact that you’re getting a really deep magazine for a reasonable price tag. Beware of hackers when using the Tsunami, as with any gun with a safe targeting system installed, and maybe install some recoil compensation to help deal with the fact that it can’t fire semi-automatic shots. I’d easily recommend a Praetor, Urban Combat, or Sigma-3 over this, but those are all also more expensive than the Tsunami, so if you want a decent gun for cheap, here you go. Just remember to buy a good firewall to go with it.
Onotari Arms S-3k
Street Lethal
Very cheap for a folding weapon, but has uninspiring stats and it takes a while to unfold. If you can possibly bring a different SMG or heavier armament in a bag or something, do that, because the S-3K isn’t actually that good of a gun, except for the ability to carry it around in more places than you can carry other weapons. Personally, I use a machine pistol for that, but if you think you can get away with hiding the bulk of this folding SMG then it couldn’t hurt to bring a little extra firepower to the table. As for me, I prefer the Cavalier Flash and PPSK-4 machine pistols.
Glock MP Custodes
State of the Art
You can get better guns for a fraction of the price of an MP Custodes. The version of this SMG that comes with the smart-materials case is pretty neat, and is something that I could see recommending if it weren’t so expensive, but as things stand if you want what the Custodes gives you then you should probably get something like a Colt Cobra TZ-120 instead. If this is how they handle SMGs, Glock should clearly stick to making pistols.
HK 223C
State of the Art
The 223C is a very good submachine gun, at a surprisingly reasonable price considering its stats. This thing is meant for street sams, combat riggers, and other military types, with high damage, extensive ammo capacity, and the ability to fire assault rifle rounds (so you can streamline your logistics between your assault rifles and your more concealable SMG–don’t have to buy two ammo types). It’s not 100% golden right out of the box, but if you slap on a smartgun system and some more recoil compensation then I’d say the 223C has firmly unseated the P93 Praetor as what you want to be carrying if you’re using an SMG as your main gun.
HK Urban Enforcer
State of the Art
A more expensive, electronics-packed Urban Combat with an attached grenade launcher. This thing is great, absolute quality gunmetal, but unfortunately you can’t afford it. Pick one up if you ever have more nuyen than you know what to do with.
MACHINE PISTOLS
Ares Crusader II
Core
The Crusader II would be the first and only choice I would recommend to your attention if it weren’t so expensive. For your money you do get a very fine weapon, make no mistake, with high accuracy boosted by an internal smartgun system, gas venting to deal with recoil, and a hilariously large magazine size for a weapon that can’t go full-auto; but unless you make heinous mistakes that by all rights should end in your death, you shouldn’t ever need to fire forty rounds from a fucking machine pistol, and there are options that are flat-out better if you take the time to mod them. Still, if you’re willing to spend the money and don’t want to have to customize your piece, the Crusader does handle very well out of the box, and will serve as an excellent hidden gun for all those times you can’t carry your Alpha around with you.
Ceska Black Scorpion
Core
This gun is cheap, and that’s about all I can say. It’s basically a light pistol with a stock that can burst-fire. If that’s what you’re looking for, by all means, get yourself a Scorpion. At least you won’t have broken the bank on it. Just don’t rely on it for anything more dangerous than threatening gangers with.
Steyer TMP
Core
The cheapest full-auto weapon that will fit in one hand. Not that you’ll ever want to use that full-auto capability without adding some way of compensating for recoil, but still. If you want an emergency backup piece, there are worse options–at the very least you can use it for suppressive fire while everyone else breaks for the door.
PPSK-4 Collapsible Machine Pistol
Run & Gun
If you can get it, this is the machine pistol you want to have. The whole point of this class of weapons is to have something concealable that’s a little heavier than a pistol, and boy does this one deliver on that promise. It is mad expensive, but worth every red nuyen. As the name suggests, the PPSK-4 Collapsible folds up into a little box that has better concealability than a holdout pistol with much better accuracy, burst-fire and a wonderfully deep magazine. When you finally have the money to start upgrading from your starter kit, a PPSK-4 should be at the top of your spy toys shopping list.
Onotari Arms Equalizer
Run & Gun
An otherwise perfectly serviceable machine pistol with a magazine capacity that, at first glance, looks like either a typo or a bad joke. It’s got higher damage than most, making it not bad for a quick spray-and-pray, but for the same price you can get something that won’t run empty the first time you pull the trigger. Your call on whether or not the damage is worth blowing your load in the first couple seconds of the fight.
Ultimax 70
Run & Gun
Better than the Equalizer, but only barely, and holy shit people, who thought that a full-auto weapon with a fifteen round magazine was a good idea? Goddamn.
Like the Equalizer, the Ultimax 70 can’t flip over to semi-auto, so you’ve got at best five pulls of the trigger before you run dry. If that’s not a problem for you–and if you use this as a backup or emergency piece, I guess it shouldn’t be–it does have nice accuracy and handling.
Fianchetti Military 100
Gun H(e)aven 3
Like the Equalizer and Ultimax 70, the Military 100 is a full-auto-capable weapon with a very low ammo capacity. It’s high enough to be useful, though, and it does have a semi-auto mode that the other two lack, so of the three it’s the one that I would be most comfortable recommending. If you really need to have a full-auto machine pistol, I’d seriously consider getting a basic TMP instead of this, unless you feel that you need a cooler-looking pistol. The Military 100 is basically the gun from Robocop, so at least you’ll look intimidating with it.
Cavalier Evanator
Gun H(e)aven 3
A Military 100 without the semi-auto option or smartlink, for seventy-five nuyen less. It does have recoil compensation, and a decent enough accuracy with the built-in laser sight, so I don’t feel all that bad recommending it, and it’s a clear sight better than either the Equalizer or Ultimax 70. If you expect to do serious work with your machine pistol, there are certainly worse options, though I’d like to make it clear that this is by no means the best or even second best one. The magazine size remains low, but that shouldn’t matter if you stick to three-round bursts, and it’s nice to have the option for suppressive fire (even if that would take the entire magazine). If you really want this gun, by all means, use it, but otherwise a Military 100 does everything it does just a little bit better, with the minor exception of recoil compensation.
Remington Suppressor
Gun H(e)aven 3
This is my favorite of the machine pistols, despite the tiny magazine size. The fact that you can’t use full-auto on this thing makes the fifteen-round mag not matter as much, and I feel the high accuracy, built in suppressor and high-caliber rounds more than make up for it in any case. With a little recoil modification and an attached smartlink, this gun is the best packet of concealable automatic firepower that money can buy.
Cavalier Flash
Street Lethal
The description of the Flash compares it a lot to the PPSK-4, but it’s pretty clear that the two machine pistols fulfill completely different needs. The PPSK-4 is for when you need to really hide some automatic firepower, with an incredible ability to be concealed at the expense of taking a moment or two to get set back up afterward. The Flash, on the other hand, is about having automatic firepower in hand fast. Combine this thing with an arm slide and you can have a machine pistol in your hand as a free action, which essentially gives you another initiative pass of fire in your first turn. In my mind, that’s more than worth the high price tag. It’s also not a half-bad machine pistol by itself, with decent damage and lower accuracy helped by an integrated smartgun system.
Frankly, I can’t see a reason for an automatics-focused character with some extra money to not have one of these. Because of the way Shadowrun’s combat system handles initiative, speed counts more than anything, and the Flash/arm slide combo reliably buys you an extra fraction of a second at the beginning of a fight, right where it counts the most. That’s more than worth the nuyen.
Glock 51
State of the Art
This weapon is incredibly versatile, astonishingly cheap for a piece built with polymer and ceramic components, very easy to use, and can go full-auto. It’s effectively a much better version of the Steyr TMP, for only a hundred more nuyen. It could benefit from a bit of recoil compensation and an ammo type that boosts the damage or armor penetration, but otherwise it’s effective right out of the box.
There are better niche machine pistols for specialized situations (I still love the Remington Suppressor as a quieter and more precise sidearm), but the Glock 51 has my wholehearted recommendation for anyone who wants a workmanlike jack-of-all-trades machine pistol.
Walther P118
State of the Art
Very expensive for a machine pistol, but wow does this one come with some fancy features. If you can afford it, the Walther P118 is the most advanced machine pistol that money can buy, bar none. The electronics package is great, but the real benefit this thing brings to the table is the extensive recoil compensation, which makes the full-auto feature much more usable. A great pick for a street sam who’s confident in their firewall and has money to burn on a flashy sidearm.
HOLDOUT PISTOLS
Fichetti Tiffani Needler
Core
The most expensive holdout pistol, the Needler isn’t a bad choice by any means, especially if you want something that will match a disguise–a Needler found in the pocket or purse of an executive raises less eyebrows than a different weapon might. This thing can only fire flechettes, which makes it less than useful against hard targets, but if you’re down to a holdout pistol in the face of armored opposition you’re fucked anyway, so it’s hard to argue that the Needler’s lack of penetration would make much of a difference either way. Its main problem is the cost, which is really fucking high for the dinky little pocket-shotgun that it is.
Streetline Special
Core
If you don’t want to spend the cash on a Needler, the Special is likely what you’ll be carrying in that ankle holster of yours. This gun is harder to detect on MAD scanners, making it more likely to get through security with you, and the six-round magazine is the largest of any holdout pistol. It’s hella cheap, too. This is my personal favorite option in the holdout category. No frills gutter-trash junk, but it’ll come as a surprise and that’s what counts.
Walther Palm Pistol
Core
The one-shot wonder. This tiny over-under derringer only holds two bullets, which can both be fired at once if you so choose. It packs a bigger punch than other holdouts, but you’d best be damn sure that you drop whatever you’re shooting on the first try. Or buy more than one. They’re not quite as cheap as the Streetline Special, but the Palm Pistol ain’t about to break the bank.
Fichetti Tiffani Self-Defender 2075
Run & Gun
This is for when you need a gun that will blend in with the fashionable crowd, but you can’t afford a Needler. It looks pretty, but so far as shooting goes you’d be better off throwing rocks.
Colt New Model Revolver
Gun H(e)aven 3
Very accurate, especially for a holdout, and more bullets than usual for this category, but unfortunately that comes with a smaller caliber of round. In the hands of someone highly skilled enough to take advantage of its accuracy the New Model Revolver could be a beautiful surprise, but otherwise it’s a plinking gun. If you get this, you’ll probably want to ignore it’s normal ammo in favor of capsule rounds filled with toxins. DMSO mixed with narcoject is the usual favorite, but pepper punch will do in a pinch, and is actually cheaper than normal bullets to boot.
Narcoject One
Street Lethal
A knockout gun like the Parashield dart pistol, but without the requirement that you take a specialized skill to use it. It’s a good idea, with one major problem–it’s expensive as all hell. You can get almost exactly the same thing by buying a Streetline Special and firing capsule rounds filled with narcoject and DMSO, for a tenth of the price. Don’t bother purchasing the One.
Raecor Sting
Street Lethal
This is essentially a cheaper and worse Needler, with the twist that it’s absolutely invisible to MAD scanners. Between the two, I think I’d actually recommend the Sting over the Needler, mostly because it’s a third of the price. Plus the whole point of holdouts is to sneak them in places, and the ceramic body of the Sting really helps with that.
Terracotta Arms Pup
Street Lethal
Holdout pistols can’t take accessories. That’s the one thing that makes the Terracotta Arms Pup worthwhile; it comes with a smartgun system, which no one else has been able to figure out how to fit into a holdout-sized package, and an optional (and very expensive) silencer. If you want every single armament you own to be silent, then this is basically your only option in the holdout category. If stealth isn’t a consideration…well, it’s still pretty good, actually. Kind of pricey for a holdout, but you get what you pay for.
Stinger Pen Gun
Cutting Aces
A single pistol round hidden inside of a pen. Pure and simple. Kind of expensive for what it is, really, but if you want an assassination gun this is a good one.
Walther Secura Supercompakt
State of the Art
The Secura Supercompakt is a secret agent gun, and a pretty good one at that. It punches outside its weight class with heavy pistol bullets in a holdout pistol frame, which as far as I can tell means it does normal holdout pistol damage but with some armor penetration. Don’t expect to use it against any real heavies, but the Supercompakt does let you take on some more lightly-armored foes on a more even footing.
This gun’s big problem is its cost. The price tag is a thousand nuyen, which is a lot for a pocket pistol. In most respects it’s a better version of the classic Streetline Special, but at almost ten times the cost I’m not sure if that’s worth it. Upgrade to this weapon if you’re finding that your Special isn’t cutting it, but otherwise you might want to go with something a little cheaper for your emergency piece.
LIGHT PISTOLS
Ares Light Fire 75
Core
This is a covert ops tool, and a damn fine one. The integrated silencer is better than the stock models you can get for other guns, the clip size is good, accuracy is high (though that tends to be the case for light pistols), and it comes with a smartlink. The only real downsides to this gun are the price and the illegality–otherwise, I’d be suggesting everyone who can use pistols buy one. If you’ve got the money and feel like you might need to assassinate someone, the Light Fire is an excellent option.
Ares Light Fire 70
Core
A Light Fire 75 without the smartlink, and slightly more accuracy for some reason. You can still get the improved Light Fire silencer for this piece, though it costs extra, so you might want to consider this if you don’t care about the tech bonuses from the smartlink and want something that you can legally own.
Beretta 201T
Core
A solid option with a large magazine size and a burst-fire mode. If you’re willing to spend a little more money there are better options available, but this certainly isn’t a bad one, especially if you have worries about ammo capacity. It’s one of those guns where you’re probably not going to need extra magazines, so that’s one less thing to worry about carrying around.
Colt America L36
Core
This is the average handgun. Accurate enough, hits harder than the Light Fire and 201T, and a small magazine that doesn’t matter as much because it’s only got a semi-auto mode. It’s also remarkably common, so if you’re looking for a weapon you can throw into a dumpster after a murder, or one that won’t be commented on by the cops, this is what you want. It’s almost worth picking one up to wear openly so that people don’t look a little deeper and see that you’re packing something heavier as well.
Fichetti Security 600
Core
This is a security weapon, with the usual laser sight and folding stock meant to make it easier for poorly-trained guards to handle. It also has a magnificently deep magazine, sporting thirty rounds in a semi-auto weapon that will never burn through it all in one firefight. It’s one of the more expensive options, but lets get real for a moment–these are light pistol prices we’re talking about. You can afford it. If you want something that will be effective right out of the box without customization, and which you won’t ever have to reload in the middle of a fight, the Security 600 is your baby. Stick it in a pocket and forget about having to carry spare magazines.
Taurus Omni-6
Core
This one ain’t bad if you want a little more bang for your buck. It’s a revolver, so your semi-auto specializations won’t apply, and if you’re firing the option it has for larger-caliber bullets you won’t be doing any semi-auto bursts–not that you would want to anyway, at that ammo capacity. It’s not a bad gun, overall. Straightforward, versatile firepower.
Fichetti Executive Action
Run & Gun
Burst-fire-capable pain in a small package, but with no recoil compensation and no accuracy aids. Despite its flaws the Executive Action remains a very nice pistol, mostly because the errata removes the need to spend a complex action on burst-fire. It is, essentially, a cheap and more easily-concealed machine pistol, perfect for the pistoleer who wants a little more power to play with. Just remember to put some recoil compensation on it–a folding stock or gas venting wouldn’t go amiss.
Shiawase Arms Puzzler
Run & Gun
Stat-wise, the Puzzler isn’t really anything special. It’s the fact that you can disassemble it into pieces that don’t look like weapon parts that’s the selling point, allowing you to sneak it in pretty much anywhere. With low accuracy and damage, the Puzzler isn’t going to last you for long in a real firefight, but it might be enough to plug someone who has an actual gun that you can take, or drop the target of a wetwork job. If you don’t have the Armorer skill you’re likely going to struggle with reassembling it, but if you do then this is a nice little spy toy for your kit.
If you can afford one, I’d suggest getting a WW Infiltrator from the Street Lethal sourcebook instead of the Puzzler. It’s the same concept, but in heavy pistol form, which means it hits a bit harder when you need it.
Nitama Sporter
Run & Gun
This piece is actually pretty nice, despite getting made fun of in the shadowtalk entry under its description. It’s got longer range and better accuracy than other pistols in its class, and a sizable magazine. It doesn’t exactly hit for much, but if you’ve got the skills to take advantage of the accuracy this is a pretty good choice for a sidearm.
Colt Agent Special
Gun H(e)aven 3
Clean and simple killing power. The Agent Special is for when you absolutely need to be sure that you’ll make one target very dead in the time it takes them to realize you’ve got a gun. Those high-caliber rounds come at a cost, however, with lower accuracy than the rest of its class, a tiny eight-round magazine and an aggressive drop-off in effectiveness at range. If you want a small gun that hits like a heavy pistol, this is for you, but I’d suggest buying it alongside another pistol and using the Agent Special only when conditions allow. Like the name says, this is for when you’re operating like a secret agent, at close range and with surprise.
Cavalier Arms Adder Slivergun
Hard Targets
This thing is basically the Viper Slivergun’s little brother. It’s more accurate than it’s heavy pistol counterpart, but packs a smaller punch, smaller magazine, and can’t do burst-fire. It’s reasonable enough when compared to the Viper. Compared to other light pistols though, the damage boost over something like a Colt America L36 is not enough to compensate for the armor penetration difficulties caused by the flechette ammunition, the accuracy is worse than just about every other gun in its class, and it’s got no interesting features to make up for the fact that it’s on the higher end of light pistol prices. If you want a light pistol that punches outside its weight class I recommend an Agent Special, unless you really think your pocket piece is going to need the range advantage and twenty-round mag of the Adder.
Browning Ghost
Street Lethal
The question you want to be asking yourself, as a shadowrunner who wants to carry an extremely concealed light pistol on your person, is this: do I want to buy a Puzzler, or a Ghost? The Puzzler is less expensive and harder for security to identify if they search you, but it’s also a lot harder to find and you have to have the Armorer skill to put it together and take it apart. The Ghost, meanwhile, is extremely concealable and has some nice recoil compensation from its electronic firing mechanism. It also comes with a smartgun system, which is a damn fine touch. Between the Puzzler and the Ghost, I think I prefer the Ghost. It’s more expensive, but in this case you get what you pay for.
Colt Coral Snake
Street Lethal
Despite the picture in the book looking like a semi-auto, this is actually a revolver. Quite a decent one, too. The cylinder only holds five rounds, but each of them hits decently hard, and since it’s single-shot only you’re not going to be spraying bullets everywhere anyway. Overall, this is a good piece if you want to punch outside of your weight class a little bit, or if you don’t want to buy two kinds of ammo–it uses heavy pistol ammunition, so you could buy this for everyday carry and get a heavier pistol for more serious work, if you wanted.
Hammerli 6205
Cutting Aces
A very nice light pistol hampered by the tiny six-round magazine (that sleek, fashionable profile comes at a cost, unfortunately). The important things to note here are the better range than most light pistols, the built-in smartlink and gas vent, and (again) the lack of extensive ammo capacity. It’s an easy-to-handle weapon meant for faces and mages rather than runners who need a gun for serious combat work.
Yamaha Sakura Fubuki SX
Cutting Aces
This new-model Cherry Blossom Storm is, statwise, a flashier Fichetti Executive Action. It does less damage, but carries a lot more ammo, and has a built-in point of recoil compensation from the electronic firing system. If it were only based on the combat stats I’d say that choosing between the Fubuki and the Executive Action were a matter of personal taste, but the Fubuki is two and a half times more expensive than Fichetti’s burst-fire light pistol, so in the final analysis I have to recommend the Executive Action over this piece unless you’re more focused on style than practicality, especially with the four barrels making reloading and modding a pain in the ass.
HEAVY PISTOLS
Ares Predator V
Core
Everyone loves the classics. The latest model in the Predator line has the usual inherent smartlink, high-caliber rounds, nice ammo capacity and high price tag–all marks of fine Ares craftsmanship. No recoil compensation to speak of, but that’s standard for heavy pistols. Just remember to take the time to aim and you’ll do fine with this one.
Ares Viper Slivergun
Core
A sleek, powerful weapon with burst-fire capability making up for poor accuracy. The magazine size is something I’d expect to see on a light pistol or automatic, and should keep you going for a while without having to reload. If you don’t mind being a little less effective against hard targets, this is a very practical option, though I’d suggest adding a smartgun system to it. It’s cheap enough to get an internal one built in without too much hassle. Actually, it’s cheap, period, especially for what it gives you. Overall, I’d have to say that the Slivergun is the best bang for your buck in the heavy pistols category, and if efficiently spending your nuyen is your only concern then this should be your top pick.
Browning Ultra-Power
Core
Get this if you can’t afford a Predator, or if you don’t have a smartlink. Otherwise, ignore it. It’s an older model, and it’s starting to show its age.
Colt Government 2066
Core
Reliable, very accurate heavy pistol. It doesn’t come with a smartlink and doesn’t hit as hard as the rest of the heavy pistols, but it’s also reasonably cheap, and otherwise performs just as well as the Predator V. If you want a semi-auto .45 and want to avoid the commonality of the Predator line, I’d go with the Government 2066 instead of the Browning Ultra-Power. It’s a nice little piece, which you could make better by adding on a smartlink and maybe a touch of recoil compensation. It’s modeled after the classic 1911 handgun, which means it looks good as well.
Remington Roomsweeper
Core
This is a ganger’s gun, not a professional’s. If that’s the vibe you’re looking for, by all means, pick up a Roomsweeper–it’s certainly cheap, and firing shot from it gives you rock-solid close-range burst damage. Its ability to adjust the choke means you also have some options if people are dodging your shots. Just don’t be surprised if you run out of ammo in the middle of the fight.
Ruger Super Warhawk
Core
This is the fuck you gun. This is Dirty Harry, Hellboy, and every wild west gun bunny that ever made it into legend. This is chrome and blood and the sound that means you’ll never hear right again. Buy a Super Warhawk if you expect to be swaggering a lot.
Cavalier Deputy
Run & Gun
This is the Super Warhawk’s younger, more reasonable brother. More accurate, and with an odd seven-chamber cylinder, this revolver hits in a lower weight class than Ruger’s chrome behemoth, but also doesn’t break your wrist every time you go to fire it. Unless you’re specialized in revolvers, there are better options available. On the plus side, like the other revolvers available, it’s easy to get, cheap, and you’ll never have an enemy hacker ejecting your magazine for you.
PSK-3 Collapsible Heavy Pistol
Run & Gun
If you can get ahold of one of these, it’s a nice alternative to your Streetline or Needler, but you’re going to pay good nuyen for a weapon that hopefully you won’t have to use that often. Much like the PPSK-4 machine pistol and the Puzzler light pistol, put this on your spy gear shopping list once you’ve got some money and contacts.
Savalette Guardian
Run & Gun
I really like the Guardian. Built-in smartlink, burst-fire, hits hard, inherent recoil comp and an association with high-class VIP protection and noir trids. It’s also an expensive gun, and the magazine size is nothing to write home about (especially for a burst-fire weapon), but by the time you need to reload you should have been able to put down whatever was troubling you. A serious piece for serious work, and definitely the most aggressive heavy pistol available.
Onotari Arms Violator
Run & Gun
Do you want to attract enemy hackers while using a mediocre heavy pistol packed with way more electronics than it needs? Your bizzare dreams have been answered by Onotari Arms. Every item that might have been in this gun’s favor is more than balanced out by something else. On the one hand, the Violator does have inherent recoil compensation, but so does the Guardian, and the Guardian can burst-fire. On that first hand again it is very cheap for a gun that comes with a smartlink, but it also comes with an electronic safety and safe-targeting system that is going to be a playground for anyone who gets past your firewall. It is the only way you’re going to be able to get all these electronics to fit into one gun, and frankly the thing is a marvel of engineering, but it’s all just not that useful. Save yourself the headache and buy something else, unless you really love Saeder-Krupp’s weapons subsidiary for some reason, or unless you’re really frightened of getting mind-controlled and want something that you know for sure won’t fire on your allies.
Colt Future Frontier
Gun H(e)aven 3
This piece is somewhere between the Super Warhawk and the Deputy, though it’s more expensive than either. It’s also not as useful as either of those other two revolvers. If you really want to use a single-action revolver in a world of cyberware and machine guns, you should probably get a Warhawk instead.
It does look very nice, for what it’s worth, and if you are for some reason committing to a cowboy motif then go for it.
Colt Manhunter
Hard Targets
The description in the book explicitly compares the Manhunter to the Savalette Guardian and the Predator V, but I think the Guardian is a class above either of those, so I’m going to have to disagree with that assessment. The Manhunter is another bigass semiauto, nestling in right next to the Predator V and the Browning Ultra-Power. With it’s larger magazine size and same every other stat it’s essentially a strict upgrade to the Ultra-Power, though with a holographic instead of laser sight and for 60 more nuyen. Similarly, it’s cheaper than the Predator but doesn’t have the smartgun system. The Manhunter explicitly has no electronics on it at all, in fact, aside from the holo sight, which is nice for those times when your decker gets his ass handed to him and some corpsec spider is rooting through your gear’s systems. The stated lack of electronic parts also makes this weapon (thematically, at least–the weapon’s description doesn’t actually make any mechanical difference but I think it feels right) a good candidate for the ceramic gun treatment.
LeMat 2072
Hard Targets
I like this gun. I like it a lot. Attaching a shotgun barrel to a pistol is the very definition of punching outside your weight class. It’s only real downside is the fact that both the shotgun part and the pistol part are single-shot only, which tends to be common with revolvers but does limit your options quite a bit when using it. Also, for some reason it’s over twice the cost of a Super Warhawk, and almost five times the cost of a Deputy. I like this gun a lot, but I’m not sure if it’s entirely worth that thousand nuyen price tag.
Ares Striker
Street Lethal
Despite the age of this weapon, the Ares Striker is actually quite a good pistol. It needs some mods to bring it up into the top tier of weapons, but it’s cheap enough that you should be able to afford to customize it a little bit. Replace the silly-looking red-dot sight with a smartgun system, and it’s almost as good as a Predator for quite a bit less money. A reliable sidearm for someone who doesn’t expect to be using it all the time, but wants to be able to go hard when they do.
Barrens Special
Street Lethal
Uh…well, it’s cheap, I guess.
The whole point of the Barrens Special is that it’s for when you need a gun right now, you don’t know anywhere to get one, and you aren’t particularly picky about what shape it comes in. It’s a gun you use because everything has gone sideways in the worst possible way. The Barrens Special isn’t much to get you through such transcendentally fucked situations, but at least it’s something.
Browning Phantom
Street Lethal
Same line as the Browning Ghost. This gun is strictly better statwise than the PSK-3 Collapsible, but is less concealable and more expensive. Your call on which specific attributes of the two guns mean more to you.
Cavalier Champion
Street Lethal
Hahaha what?
This is a single-shot break-action pistol that fires rifle rounds. It’s got longer range than your usual heavy pistols, hits like an assault rifle, and is accurate like a light pistol, but that one-round capacity is kind of hard to get past. As an assassination weapon, this punches far outside of its weight class to ensure you get that clean one-shot one-kill opportunity; as a weapon for a serious firefight, look elsewhere.
Cavalier Thunderstruck
Street Lethal
In fourth edition, the Ruger Thunderbolt was the gun to get if you were a serious pistols user. In 5e, the Cavalier Thunderstruck tries to do what Ruger did in years past, except instead of Ruger’s Thunderbolt we’re going to be comparing it to the Savalette Guardian, because they’re incredibly similar pistols.
What the Thunderstruck has over the Guardian is recoil compensation. It starts with three, and you can mod it up from there, letting you build an incomparably easy-to-handle weapon that hits hard and fast. What the Guardian has over the Thunderstruck is the ability to fire semi-auto, and the fact that uncompensated recoil isn’t doubled like it is with the Thunderstruck. Also, it’s a bit cheaper.
As for which one you want to buy…it’s kind of six of one, half a dozen of the other, to be honest. The Thunderstruck is strictly better in some ways, but you can mod a Guardian to be almost as good and keep the ability to fire semi-auto shots instead of only burst-fire. Which one you get depends on how seriously you’re going to be using your heavy pistol. If you’re building a gun-platform cyborg or a pistols adept, then the Thunderstruck with expanded magazines and some additional recoil compensation will be a dream come true for you. If you’re going a little less hard on pistols, than you probably want a modded Guardian, since it’ll be cheaper and does 90% of what the Thunderstruck does.
Hammerli Gemini
Street Lethal
At first glance, this pistol looks like a kid’s idea of what would make a badass gun. If you look at the stats, though, it quickly becomes clear that the Gemini actually has a useful purpose in a shadowrunner’s arsenal, mostly due to its astonishing armor penetration. Sure, the rules around its duel-clip system are a bit weird, and the ammo capacity is nothing to write home about, but load it with APDS and you’ve got a nice anti-armor sidearm that you can use in a pinch to deal with paracritters and up-armored opposition. Remember to mod in some recoil compensation, though–it fires two bullets at once, so your recoil penalties are going to stack up faster than usual.
HK Urban Fighter
Street Lethal
The HK Urban Fighter is nicknamed “The Invisible Gun” for good reason. This is what you want when you need a heavier pistol to bring through security with you. Hermetically sealed magazines, ceramic frame, barrel-integrated silencer…the only downsides to this piece are the price and the availability, which are both so high that I honestly can’t recommend buying it (seriously, it’s almost 2k nuyen for a sidearm). If money is no object, get this gun; otherwise, there are better options available, but keep this one in mind for when you get rich.
Morrissey Alta
Street Lethal
Morrissey makes high-fashion pistols, which really tells you everything you need to know about who might want to carry one. If you’re playing a face with the pistols skill, pick up an Alta or Elite to complete your corporate troubleshooter look. They’re not bad guns, so you won’t be at a serious disadvantage in a firefight, but there are better options for more combat-focused characters. Between the two, the Alta is more expensive, but it’s also more accurate, carries more bullets, and shoots further.
Morrissey Elite
Street Lethal
Same line as the Alta, pretty much. The Elite is a great concealable piece, but it only carries five rounds, so I wouldn’t necessarily rely on it for situations where you’re actually planning on using it. My advice would be to carry an Alta when you can get away with it, and an Elite when you can’t.
Both of these guns should only be carried by face characters, or people with an interest in high fashion or corporate looks. There are better tools available for everyone else.
Nemesis Arms Praetorian
Street Lethal/Cutting Aces
Despite looking like a flintlock pistol, this weapon is actually a particularly vicious semi-automatic handgun. The flintlock mechanism on the side is just for show; in the grip of this weapon is a twelve-round magazine full of modern high-caliber bullets. If you want a pistol that doubles as a pretty good knife, then the Praetorian is for you. If you just want a gun, however, you’re better off getting a Predator, which has slightly better shooting stats for slightly less nuyen.
Onotari Arms Vagabond
Street Lethal
Now, this isn’t something you we’ve seen before from Onotari Arms, a weapons brand that is usually all about over-designed how-much-hardware-can-we-cram-into-this-frame Eurojank. The Vagabond is a respectable medium-heavy revolver, slotting in nicely between the midweight Cavalier Deputy and the chrome-and-blood madness of the Ruger Super Warhawk. With high damage and better armor piercing than usual for a heavy pistol, the Vagabond has a clear niche that it fills perfectly. Put this weapon in the hands of a skilled shooter who doesn’t want to waste ammunition.
WW Infiltrator
Street Lethal
A more expensive but better-quality Puzzler. Not much else to say here. Buy it for your spy kit, if you can afford it.
Altmayr Black Moon
State of the Art
A heavy, reliable revolver with nice accuracy and an electronic ignition mechanism that replaces the classic hammer, as well as a slide mount on top that makes installing a smartgun system a breeze if you want to increase the accuracy even further. I really like this gun’s stats, but unfortunately the cost ruins it. This piece is basically an Onotari Arms Vagabond with one more accuracy and one less armor penetration, for just about three times as much nuyen. Which is a crazy price difference.
Buy a Vagabond instead of a Black Moon, and use some of the savings to add on a smartgun system to make up for the difference in accuracy.
Glock-Swarovski Adlerauge (Translation from German: “Eagle Eye”)
State of the Art
The base stats of the Eagle Eye aren’t its real selling point. The point of this weapon is that it’s an exceptionally long-range pistol, with an extended barrel, high accuracy, and improved range finder that lets you reach out and touch people from way further away than a handgun really should be able to. This is the sidearm you want to have on hand if your main weapon is a sniper or marksman’s rifle. It’s a little expensive, but not unreasonably so considering what it brings to the table.
HK Urban Fighter
State of the Art
This is a different version of the HK Urban Fighter found in the Street Lethal sourcebook. The one in State of the Art is described as being the “domestic” version, for sale within Germany rather than internationally. As compared to the Street Lethal version, this pistol is more accurate but hits a little less hard and costs a lot more. It also doesn’t come with a silencer installed–that’ll run you an extra thousand nuyen, omae. Crucially, however, it’s described as being completely invisible to MAD sensors, rather than having rating 6 ceramic components, which definitely makes it an improvement over the one in Street Lethal.
Walther Secura II
State of the Art
A reasonably priced high-caliber handgun with good accuracy, sizable magazine, and an unfortunate restriction on its burstfire capabilities. You might want to take into account that every English sourcebook has errata that changes burst fire pistols to not require complex actions to use burst fire, and apply that here as well, in which case the Secura II becomes a much better weapon. If you make that change it’s basically a straight improvement on the Savalette Guardian, though it doesn’t have the inherent recoil compensation.
Ares Predator III
Sail Away, Sweet Sister (Enhanced Fiction)
A lighter and much older heavy pistol, not as good as the more-recent Predator V but decently cheaper. The interesting thing about the Predator III is that the smartgun system is so old that it isn’t wireless–you need to plug yourself into this thing directly with a cable, or have a skinlink augmentation. This makes it annoying to use for most characters, of course, who may very well find themselves paying for a smartgun system that they can’t actually use. However, for characters who can connect through a skinlink, or who are willing to run a cable from a port in their skull, the Predator III is a smartlinked weapon that can’t be hacked wirelessly. Which is pretty neat, if you care about that sort of thing.
A lot of technomancers I’ve played with used their weird Resonance powers to get the ability to make a skinlink connection, because that’s one of the only ways for them to directly connect to devices, and I heartily recommend this pistol for any techno who takes that particular ability. When you lose a matrix fight you’ll still have a pistol that the enemy can’t access, with a smart system that you can run machine sprites on. Everyone else should just get a modern weapon, though.
SHOTGUNS
Defiance T-250
Core
Cheap, reliable ghetto-trash. If your local gangers haven’t graduated to automatics, this is the heavy firepower they’ll be bringing to the table. Despite being on the lower tier of shotguns, the T-250 isn’t actually that bad a piece; I’m especially a fan of the sawed-off version, which you can hide under a big coat or in a gym bag. Compared to the other shotguns available it’s not stellar, but damn if you can’t beat that price. Note that it doesn’t have the best accuracy in the world, so you might want to use buckshot and widen the choke a bit to make sure you’re hitting what you point it at.
Enfield AS-7
Core
This is what your professional room-clearer is going to be using. Burst-fire, high damage, optional high-capacity drum mag, laser sight–the Enfield has it all, at a price that shouldn’t pose any issues for your average gun bunny. It’s a military-grade weapon and thus illegal for civilians to own, of course, but keep it out of the eyes of the cops and the AS-7 will treat you well. Accuracy is a little on the low side, but it’s a shotgun–you’re not going to get pinpoint marksmanship here. For someone who’s serious about using a shotgun as their main weapon, the Enfield is the best option by far, until you can get your hands on an AA-16.
PJSS Model 55
Core
An accurate hunting weapon, not a gun for real combat. Don’t bother owning one unless you really need to pass for a hunter, but you should at least be aware of this piece’s existence, because if you run into someone out hunting while you’re on a run in the wilderness they’ll probably be carrying something like this.
Auto-Assault 16
Run & Gun
The premier combat shotgun. This is basically an Enfield with a larger drum, extensive recoil compensation and full-auto capability. It’s also nearly impossible to get ahold of, and illegal as all hell, but if you absolutely need to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.
Not much else to be said here. When you want to rock and roll, this is your instrument.
Mossberg AM-CMDT
Run & Gun
Another full-auto shotty, more accurate than the AA-16 but without the option of a drum magazine. This gun is meant to hose down one target and then either switch to another gun or duck back to reload. It’s not a bad weapon, but you’re going to want to bring a lot of spare clips with you. Which might not be so bad, if you like to swap ammo types a lot, and at least the included smartlink makes ejecting spent magazines easier.
Franchi Spas-24
Run & Gun
A decent burst-fire shotty, worse than the Enfield by virtue of, like the AM-CMDT, not being able to use a drum mag. It does have a smartlink and shock pad for pretty cheap, which is nice. Load it with something that hits hard and you’ve got a damn fine gun at a damn fine price.
Remington 990
Run & Gun
A basic, solid shotty waiting for you to mod it to greatness. It doesn’t hit as hard as the military shotguns, true, but it does have top and bottom slide mounts for easy accessorizing, and it’s reasonably cheap. Get this if you don’t expect to use it much and want a gun that won’t draw much comment, or if you want something you can customize to your own particular tastes.
Krime Boss
Gun H(e)aven 3
An inexpensive shotty that hits as hard as a military weapon, but is legal to own, with its only real downside being the abysmal accuracy. Get it a smartlink or a laser sight, though, and you’ve got yourself a cheap piece capable of dishing out some major damage. Well worth a look for people who want a weapon for an emergency rather than day-to-day use, and definitely Krime’s best offering in the small arms category.
Winchester Model 201
Gun H(e)aven 3
If you want a super-accurate shotgun, don’t get the PJSS. Get this instead. Double-barreled, so you only get two shots, but that sweet accuracy means you can make those count. A professional will probably want a heavier tool, but if you need to pose as a high society gamesman the Model 201 is a damn fine piece to bring along for the ride.
Winchester Model 2066
Gun H(e)aven 3
This is…it’s classy, all right, but less useful than pretty much any other shotgun. Low accuracy, low damage (for a shotgun, anyway, which is to say it still hits hard) and a very slow lever-action mechanism. Get this along with a Future Frontier revolver to complete your cowboy costume: otherwise, skip it.
Winchester Model 2054
Gun H(e)aven 3
Get this shotgun if you don’t expect to ever fire it. The low magazine size won’t serve you well in a real firefight, but the laser sight and stock should make handling it easier for a less-skilled operator. And it’s cheap, on top of that. Put it in the rack above the door on your rigger van and forget about it until the shit hits the fan.
Shiawase Arms Rain
Gun H(e)aven 3
Another weird stacked-barrel gun from Shiawase Arms. This one is wonderfully cheap, but that’s about the only thing it has going for it. It has the same stats as a T-250, except for some recoil comp from the stock. If you want a cheap shotgun and don’t mind that you can’t get a sawed-off version, the Rain might work out okay. Just don’t expect to do serious work with it.
Cavalier Falchion
Gun H(e)aven 3
This shotgun would be pretty nice if it weren’t crammed full of enough electronics to make any enemy hackers cream their pants, and if the action were a bit faster. As things stand, though, it’s only single-shot, has a smallish internal magazine and doesn’t even have a trigger–you have to fire it wirelessly. If you want to make a statement about how much you trust your firewall, be my guest, but a wireless shotgun is a pretty stupid way of doing that.
Berretta Northstar
Street Lethal
This shotgun has two ammo feeds from two internal magazines, and that’s literally the only thing to recommend it. If you want what the Northstar can give you, buy an Enfield AS-7 with a drum magazine and give it the ammo skip mod from Hard Targets. You’ll get a better weapon for less money.
Krime Boom
Street Lethal
A full-auto-only weapon with an internal magazine. Great.
At least it’s cheap. If you want a full-auto shotty and you can’t afford a Mossburg or AA-16, this is pretty much your only option. I personally wouldn’t want to use this as my main weapon, but if you mount it on a drone then you could put out a hilarious amount of buckshot if you wanted to.
Krime Whammy
Street Lethal
Available in chrome or “Super-Street-Chrome.” Yeah, that sounds about right.
The shotgun portion of this weapon is terrible, and the hammer portion is only okay. What the Whammy’s mostly good for is taking down doors and walls–it lets you use Agility + Clubs instead of Agility + Strength for breaching actions, so depending on your build that could be useful for your high-agility pointman. Otherwise, it’s 2k nuyen for a practically useless shotgun and a club.
Altmayr SPX2
State of the Art
The SPX2 is a better version of the Defiance T-250 Short, with increased damage and a smaller profile that is much more easily concealed. For only 25 more nuyen, too, which is one hell of a bargain. If you use longarms you definitely want to get one of these or a Pressure KS-X to act as your backup piece.
Onotari Arms Pressure KS-X
State of the Art
This is a nice one. If you want to carry a concealed shotgun, and you’ve got the money and contacts to get your hands on it, you want to be using a Pressure KS-X rather than a Altmayr SPX2 or Defiance. The six-round magazine makes the burstfire option kind of laughable, and the range is nothing to write home about, but this is still a silenced shotgun that you can hide in a coat pocket, which I have to imagine would come as a hell of a surprise to whoever you pull it on.
PJSS Model 75
State of the Art
A traditional double-barreled shotgun, for your old-school hunter types. Don’t use this on a job unless it’s part of a disguise or something (and even then I’d go for the Model 75 III, listed below).
PJSS Model 75 III
State of the Art
A somewhat less conventional triple-barreled shotgun, with the third high-caliber barrel attached underneath the other two. Useful for brief surprise attacks, but not something to carry in a serious firefight.
SNIPER RIFLES
Ares Desert Strike
Core
This is a basic, no-frills professional sniper rifle. Scope, shock-absorbent stock and beautiful reliability. It isn’t the absolute best long rifle out there, to be sure, but it gets the job done, and I consider it to be the base level of effectiveness for a dedicated sniping weapon.
Cavalier Arms Crockett EBR
Core
This is basically a cut-down, long-range assault rifle, and should be used as such. If you want to transition between assault and sniping roles, then this is your tool, right up until you can get your hands on a JP-K50. Personally, I like the Crockett. It’s a precise instrument for the operator who understands that sometimes the real world gets a little sloppy.
Ranger Arms SM-5
Core
If you want to work as an assassin, you want this gun. It’s that simple. The SM-5 is the classic rifle in a briefcase, carried by true professionals. And you have to be professional to use it, because you can’t jostle it very much–if you get involved in a running firefight with Ranger’s legendary assassination tool, you start losing accuracy fast as the fragile targeting mechanisms get knocked out of alignment. If you carry the SM-5, therefore, you should also have a backup piece, preferably something like the Puzzler or one of the foldable guns that you can carry around in a similar fashion, to keep the low profile that this rifle’s carrying case buys you.
Remington 950
Core
This is your disguise gun. Pretend to be a hunting enthusiast when the cops come, and show them your fake license, and hope they don’t look around too long and find the real heavy hardware you’ve got hidden away. Unless you can’t afford anything else don’t bother using the 950 in an actual fight.
Ruger 100
Core
This is the downscale model of the Remington 950. It’s a hobbyist weapon, and as such not a bad thing to pick up if you want to convince people that that’s all you are.
Terracotta Arms AM-47
Run & Gun
If you can actually get this behemoth of a weapon into a position where you can viably use it, then rest assured you are going to wipe the floor with anything that you point it at. The difficulty comes in transporting and hiding the thing–if you’re a human or elf, then the AM-47 might well be taller than you are, and if you’re a dwarf you can forget about it. It’s also crazy illegal and one of the most expensive guns out there, which makes sense considering it hits like an assault cannon and has both a smartlink and a built-in commlink (a pretty nice one, too). That sort of firepower and electronics doesn’t come cheap. This is a top-of-the-line military-grade weapon, and any plan involving it is going to be based entirely around trying to figure out a way to get it into the proper position without being noticed or arrested, because once you’re there it’s just going to be point and click. If you know you’re going to be doing a lot of ops in the wilderness, or if you’ve got a van to carry it around in, this is a definite contender for best gun out there. Subtle it ain’t, but sometimes you need to get unsubtle on someone.
Onotari Arms JP-K50
Run & Gun
Finally, Onotari Arms does something right, even if only by accident. The JP-K50 was originally designed as a dragon-killer, and despite failing at that goal it still has that history of durability and high firepower. It’s basically an upscaled Crockett EBR, and it’s what you should graduate to eventually if you started your running career with the Crockett.
Pioneer 60
Run & Gun
If you ever find yourself scrambling around some backwoods house looking for a gun, this is likely what you’ll come across. It’s complete garbage, and I’m sorry to have to tell you that whatever’s got you unarmed and looking for a gun in the backcountry is probably going to kill you. High-caliber round, but that’s about the only thing it’s got going for it. The Pioneer 60 has the distinction of being the only weapon this cheap and this common that I can’t see a professional potentially making use of.
That said, if you’re on a desperate shoestring budget, it is a hard-hitting gun for cheap. I could see a ganger in a street scum game doing some good work with this one.
Barret Model 122
Run & Gun
Old-school .50 caliber class, right here. It’s got the same problem as the AM-47, where it’s hard to hide and get into position, but also similar to the AM-47 once you have it there you’ve got it made. It’s got lower damage but higher armor penetration than its troll-sized cousin from Terracotta Arms, and also comes with a suppressor, which is something every sniper needs. Get this if you’re planning on shooting soldiers, hardcore corpsec troopers or vehicles.
SVD
Assassin’s Primer
The worst true sniper rifle of the lot, and also the cheapest, this Russian classic gets nano-printed in back alley machine shops a lot, making it a nice throwaway weapon for long-range assassinations. Don’t bother with it if you can afford something better, but if you need a sniper rifle and you need it now, this’ll do.
PSG Enforcer
Street Lethal
The PSG Enforcer is surprisingly cheap for what that nuyen buys you. It’s got two clips, both of which are pretty sizable, though the accuracy and damage are both slightly lower than I’d want to see on a dedicated sniper rifle. The Desert Strike is a better marksman weapon, but it’s also 6500 nuyen more expensive, which is a sizable chunk of change, and the Enforcer has enough interesting features of its own that I don’t feel bad recommending it. Security teams looking to have a bit of versatility probably have some of these on hand.
HK DMR 11D
State of the Art
This weapon is meant for street sams who want a long-range option but don’t want to go all-in on owning a sniper rifle. It uses assault rifle ammo, which means you don’t have to buy all those fancy ammo types again, and it can burstfire (though with a serious accuracy penalty). For proper use by your average sammie this thing needs a smartgun system and some recoil composition you can use on the move (it comes with a bipod for when you’re set up somewhere), but once you’ve modded it a bit I could see this being a good piece of kit. It’s less effective than a Crockett EBR or a JP-K50, but it’s also a good deal less expensive, so I don’t feel I can complain about that.
HK Urban Striker
State of the Art
Beautiful. Beautiful.
This is a sniper rifle in a briefcase that cannot be detected by any modern sensor. It’s an absolutely essential piece of assassin gear, and not something that you will ever likely own, considering the price tag. This is the sort of weapon you build a character around, or acquire only after a long and successful career.
SPORTING RIFLES
These are only found in the Gun H(e)aven 3 supplement. They’ve got their own range table because of that, but they’re basically sniper rifles, and will be treated as such by me here. They are also generally not good combat tools, more useful for when you want a weapon you can carry legally, so bear that in mind as you read through these–a sporting rifle that I’m praising here is still probably not going to carry you through any particularly heavy work.
Springfield 2003
Gun H(e)aven 3
The 2003 is essentially one piece of metal, barely any moving parts, hardcore reliable and is the unchallenged god of accuracy. It’s a very old piece, so most modern accessories won’t work with it, but there’s not a whole lot of improvement you could’ve given to it in any case. Five high-caliber rounds in an internal magazine that should be easy enough to reload for someone with enough agility to take advantage of the pinpoint accuracy, which is so high even the most modern high-tech sniper rifles can’t achieve it without smartlink assistance. My only real advice about using this lovely weapon is to be careful about policing your brass afterwards; it’s old enough that you can’t get caseless ammo for it.
Accurate, elegant boom-boom. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
Winchester Model 2024
Gun H(e)aven 3
The Model 2024 certainly isn’t a bad piece, overall. It can’t stand up to a real sniper rifle, of course, but it does have the advantage of hitting hard and being pretty cheap for what you get, and the included scope is a nice touch. This is an accurate, professional hunting tool, and isn’t an awful choice for your backcountry trip. If you can get your hands on a Springfield M1A, however, you’ll likely want to pass this one by.
Marlin 3468SS
Gun H(e)aven 3
This gun hits hard, and that’s about the only thing going for it. If you’re not an experienced shooter but still want a hunting piece, you might want to consider it, since the lower accuracy won’t bother you and anything you do hit should go down right quick.
Springfield M1A
Gun H(e)aven 3
The M1A is basically a better version of the Winchester 2024 for cheaper, and without a scope. Unlike most sporting rifles this one has an external magazine, with a reasonable amount of bullets in it. It hits hard and accurately, and overall is a damn fine weapon for the money. Put a smartlink on it and you’ve got a legal gun that could easily work for you on any dangerous mission as well as any hunting trip.
M1 Garand
Gun H(e)aven 3
This one’s a classic American weapon, and is still pretty decent. There are better options available, sure, but if you really want to haul around an antique at least you won’t die because of your weapon choice if you pick this one. If you can find an original, sell it–those things are worth a fortune as collector’s items.
Springfield Model 1855 Reproduction
Gun H(e)aven 3
There is no reason why you should ever be using a cap-and-ball musket in a modern operation, unless you’re a hardcore unionist who’s still pissed that the South rose again and wants to make a point using period-appropriate firearms. Do not purchase this weapon as anything other than a joke.
That said, putting one of these on a drone to take advantage of the sensor accuracy would be pretty entertaining.
Edit: With the addition of new alchemy rules in the Hard Targets sourcebook, the Model 1855 now has an actual use: it’s the only gun in the books that can fire alchemically-enchanted bullets. Or musket balls, in this case. There’s a 50% chance that the enchantment doesn’t work anyway, but that’s better than the 100% failure rate of any other gun firing magic bullets.
Marlin 3041 BL
Gun H(e)aven 3
This is a weak, less accurate hunting rifle with a basic scope and inexplicably high armor penetration. If you need a legal weapon that can deal with hard targets, the 3041 is a pretty good choice–load it with APDS, and you’ll punch completely through light armor and most paracritter hides.
Marlin X71
Gun H(e)aven 3
This rifle is bolt action, which means single-shot only, but that and the low ammo capacity are the only real downsides. It’s got very nice damage, along with armor penetration that I’d expect to see on an anti-material rifle. The scope is excellent, accuracy could be better but is decent enough, and the price tag is low. As icing on the cake, it comes with extreme cold adaptation, for the handful of times that’ll come up. If you want a legal hunting weapon, and you don’t mind single-shot only, then the X71 is a fantastic choice. Just make sure you don’t get in too close with it, as you’ll likely need to reload before any serious firefight is over.
Marlin 79S
Gun H(e)aven 3
Super common and super cheap, and that’s all this rifle has going for it. It’s not aggressively bad like some others, but it’s still a pea-shooter, meant for kids and hobbyists. If you need to grab a gun fast, at least this one won’t raise eyebrows, but get a serious gun as soon as you can. Don’t buy a 79S for yourself.
Winchester Model 2067
Gun H(e)aven 3
This one isn’t a particularly good weapon, but it is cheap, and you’re getting some pretty decent range for that price point. If you have almost no money and really need a sniping weapon, I could see this getting some (hopefully very) brief use before you get something better. It’s main competitor in that category would be the Pioneer 60, which is cheaper but is also single-shot only instead of semi-auto (I’m not sure how the Model 2067 is semi-auto considering that according to the art it’s a lever-action rifle, but there you go). The Model 2067’s greatest failing is its hilariously low damage, which just cannot compete with pretty much any other longarm. If you one something to give you that one-shot, one-kill magic, you’ll probably want to keep looking.
LIGHT MACHINE GUNS
Ingram Valiant
Core
Lower caliber than most, but easy handling and burst-fire capability makes the Valiant a popular choice. The smaller rounds mean it’s not going to do as much damage as even a standard assault rifle, but it does have a little more armor penetration to compensate for that. Remember to abuse the heavy range advantage you have over your rifle-toting enemies and you’ll do fine with this weapon.
GE Vindicator Mini-Gun
Run & Gun
Inaccurate, expensive and powerful as all hell. The Vindicator fires a smaller-caliber round similar to the Valiant, but at a much higher rate that tears through armor like tissue paper, and the custom 200-round belt means you won’t need to ease up on the trigger until everything has hit the ground. If you really, really need to ruin someone’s day, you can’t get much better than this.
Plus it looks really cool. Who doesn’t love miniguns?
SA Nemesis
Run & Gun
A high-tech gun from Shiawase Arms, the Nemesis is expensive, hard to find and surprisingly accurate for a machine gun. It’s got a lot of electronics, but frankly I don’t think they make it any better than the Valiant. The accuracy is nice, but overall I’d suggest getting something cheaper and less over-designed.
Krime Wave
Gun H(e)aven 3
Cheap, cheap, cheap! And just as good as the more expensive guns to boot, though it can’t do burst-fire. Since the only recoil comp is from the bipod you’re going to want to set it up before firing, or mod it a bit–throw some gas venting on, maybe a shock pad, and the Wave is flat-out better than most other guns in its class, except perhaps the Vindicator. Thank you, Krime, for your perpetual dedication to the field of heavy weapons.
Krime Triple Series
Street Lethal
The Krime Triple-Troll Minigun, Triple-Ork Microgun, and Triple-Dwarf Nanogun are all absolutely wonderful firearms. Hilariously inaccurate (par for the course with Krime, unfortunately) and unable to fire at anything less than full-auto spray-and-pray, these Gatling guns are nevertheless very effective at what they’re supposed to do. The Triple-Troll is essentially a Vindicator with half the ammo and one less accuracy for a full third of the price of GE’s beastly minigun, which is a bargain that you can’t afford to pass up. The new suppression rules offered in Street Lethal for miniguns make even the low-damage Triple-Dwarf exceptionally useful, for when you want to absolutely coat an area in saturation fire. Bring along a Krime Pack for extra ammo or mount on a drone with some deep ammo bins for maximum effect.
MEDIUM MACHINE GUNS
Stoner-Ares M202
Core
This is your basic medium machine-gun. It’s got an appealing no-frills approach to it, without any electronics or recoil compensation to speak of. If you want to mount a machine gun on a vehicle or drone, the Stoner-Ares M202 is one I would highly recommend, since the lack of inherent modifications means it comes at a reasonable price for a heavy weapon. If you want a MMG for personal use, you might want to pick up a different one, since you’ll likely need to mod it to make it usable and there are others that come with some built-in accessories that could save you some nuyen. It’s also the only one you can start with at character creation, so if you’re getting a medium machine gun at game start it’s going to be this one no matter what its stats are.
FN MAG-5 MMG
Run & Gun
Expensive, but it hits like a truck and has very nice handling, especially if you set it up on the tripod. Accuracy is a little on the low side, but you’re going to be firing full-auto bursts from this thing so that doesn’t really matter that much. The ad copy mentions that this is commonly seen mounted on vehicles, and if you want a hard-hitting automatic for that role than this is certainly a good contender. I would not recommend using them on any drone other than a Steel Lynx or something similar that has some survivability–putting this on a rotodrone is just going to see you lose more cash when it gets shot down–but it would make a grand addition to your team getaway vehicle.
Ultimax MMG
Run & Gun
Good accuracy and some recoil compensation make the Ultimax MMG not the worst choice in the world, certainly, but there are better guns. Instead of buying this gun, I suggest modding a M202 to get a gun with more armor penetration for cheaper.
HEAVY MACHINE GUNS
RPK HMG
Core
This is very much a gun that you will not be personally carrying around. Mounted on a vehicle it’s not bad, with a no-frills design just waiting for you to slap on some mods to really bring out the beast. If you’re looking for personal weaponry, look elsewhere: if you’re looking for something that will surprise the hell out of pursuit cars when you open the back door of your van and open fire, the RPK is a classic, reliable option. Hit ‘em where it hurts.
Ruhrmetall SF-20 HMG
Run & Gun
This weapon looks really, really slick. It’s got enough recoil compensation that you could conceivably mount it on a rotodrone, which is nice, but the price tag is way outside of the effectiveness you’re getting. The gun looks rad as hell, it’s a really nice piece overall, but unless you have nuyen coming out of your ears you’re probably better off going with a customized RPK.
Ultimax HMG-2
Run & Gun
Cheaper than an RPK, but less accurate and doesn’t hit as hard. The description and shadowtalk really gives the HMG-2 a lot of grief, but frankly it’s not that bad a gun. If you’re looking for an upscaled assault rifle for your troll heavy to use, this is a pretty good choice. If you can afford an RPK, get that instead, but otherwise the HMG-2 ain’t too shabby.
ASSAULT CANNONS
Krime Cannon
Core
The main advantage of the Cannon is that it’s semi-automatic instead of single-shot, which means that if you want to experience throwing 120 nuyen downrange in a single initiative pass you can semi-auto burst whatever poor bastard has had the misfortune of attracting your attention. It’s also the cheapest assault cannon available, so it’s likely what you’ll be picking up first if you decide you need that kind of firepower in your life. Just be aware of the low accuracy, and consider putting a smartlink on it–cannon ammo is too expensive to waste on missed shots.
Panther XXL
Core
THE get fucked gun. Accurate thanks to the smartlink, hits like a truck and with a very deep magazine, anything that gets touched by the Panther is going to be straight-up gone once the smoke clears. It’s also twice as expensive as the Krime Cannon, but that nuyen buys you a weapon that will fucking level whatever you point it at. Don’t fire it at anything that can dodge, obviously, but any glancing hit from this thing is likely to put your target in the dirt. Use it as an anti-vehicle weapon; the Panther is overkill for pretty much everything else.
Ares Thunderstruck Gauss Rifle
Run & Gun
Now, this is a nice one. It uses energy clips and gauss ammo, which makes keeping it loaded a little more complicated, and the rounds aren’t as large as a standard cannon, but the armor penetration and accuracy are unmatched in its class. It’s expensive, but not as much as most of the true assault cannons, and it looks damn cool. If you can’t afford a Panther, get this, is my suggestion.
Ogre Hammer SWS Assault Cannon
Run & Gun
This is less a weapon and more a lifestyle decision. It’s got the usual high damage, but less armor penetration than other cannons, as well as accuracy that is surpassed only by the Thunderstruck. The magazine size is small, but unlike most cannons it’s a box magazine, not an internal one, so reloading is less of an issue. The main reason to get the Ogre Hammer, though, is the electronics–it comes with an advanced safety, internal commlink, and a scope with all kinds of enhancements on it. You could get all that for cheaper individually, though, so unless you’re really averse to having to customize things yourself there are better options.
Ares Vigorous Assault Cannon
Run & Gun
A decent, low-cost assault cannon, though not as cheap as the Krime Cannon. The Vigorous’ main selling point is the very large magazine, with twelve rounds in a gun that is single-shot only. Accuracy is low, so you may want to add on a smartlink if you pick up this no-frills Ares product, but aside from that it’s a pretty good cannon, especially for the price.
Krime Bomb
Gun H(e)aven 3
Very accurate, but for most people the cheaper Krime Cannon is going to be a better choice. Get this if you’d like a Cannon but would be regularly hitting the limits of the Cannon’s accuracy–it’s only a 2k difference in nuyen, which if you’re buying an assault cannon should be chump change.
Ruhrmetall SMK 252
State of the Art
The Ruhrmetall Sturmmaschienenkannone 252 is basically a sniper’s assault cannon. It’s not as brutal as a Panther XXL, but it makes up for that by using the sniper rifle range table instead of the assault cannon one, which means you can reach out and touch people at much further distances than usual. It’s also extremely accurate for an artillery piece, and carries a stupendous twenty-round magazine, so you can put a lot of shells downrange while the enemy tries to close that extra distance between you. The price is a bit of a sticking point–50 large is out of reach for a lot of shadowrunners–but if you can get your hands on one, you won’t be disappointed by the purchase.
MODULAR WEAPONS SYSTEM
Steyr AUG-CSL III
State of the Art
I honestly don’t know what to make of this one. I usually prefer building specific guns for specific roles, rather than having everything in one gun, but if you’re building an arsenal on a budget then the AUG-CSL III does let you mod all of your weapons at once, which can be quite a savings.
HaikenEdge ,
Great write-up. Will you be keeping this up to day with every new splatbook?
Also, will you be producing more Shadowrun Armory materials, like articles on armor, drones or cyberdecks?
Adam ,
I’ve been trying to keep it up-to-date when new stuff comes out–you’ll see that I added the new pistols from Hard Targets as soon as I’d gotten a chance to look them over. I’ve also been asked by the occasional Redditor (where I posted a link to this a while back) to go over things like exotic weapons and other gear sets, which is something I am planning on doing at some point.
At the moment, though, I’m waiting to hear back from Catalyst on a pitch I sent them for a gearbook that I want to write, and if that goes through that writing will come before further analysis here. I’m also going pretty hard on a card game I’ve been working on, and a short story I’m revising and submitting to an e-mag. So things have been a bit busier than when I first posted the Armory.
That said, people have been pretty consistent with asking me for more, so I’m thinking that’ll probably get edged a little further up the to-do list.
HaikenEdge ,
If nothing else, it’s a really great resource to give to new players who don’t necessarily understand the crunch in correlation to expected performance.
Good to know you’re keeping busy, and good luck with your future endeavors.
WillAsher ,
Note that the Ares Sigma 3 has a drum for ammo. With Hard Targets you can add a ammo skip system. This means you can carry 20 hand loaded APDS, 20 hand loaded ExEx, and 10 in a mix of mission specific (capsule DSMO/narcojet, tracer, silver, wood…) whatever you need is automatically at hand. Lots of interesting possibilities there.
Adam ,
I hadn’t considered that–Hard Targets wasn’t out yet when I first wrote this. That definitely makes the Sigma-3 a lot more interesting. I’ll edit in a comment to the main article.
Whiskeyjack ,
With regard to the Sigma-3: “that I can’t help but feel would just make the damn thing harder to hide” – this may make sense, but it’s not in the actual rules, so it doesn’t matter. 😉
That said, it IS an SMG trying to be an AR, and that is why I love it. Unlike basically any AR worth having, it’s only Restricted, not Forbidden, and the big drum makes it an awesome non-sam weapon. Gotten a lot of mileage with full-auto suppressive SnS with my mage. It’s a decent heavy carry-around for a Sam who needs to leave the AR in the van when he goes into a club, and I consider it a great primary weapon for non-same, even before you take ammo skip into consideration.
Adam ,
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the Sigma-3. It’s just before the ammo skip system was in play the Praetor was flat-out better than it for less nuyen. The Praetor is very much Forbidden, so I guess it had that going for it, but everything else was a match.
With ammo skip, though, it’s a damn nice piece. You could use the new modifications in Hard Targets to make it even more concealable, as well, which would let you bring a 50-round SMG pretty much anywhere if you wear a big enough coat.
BC Shelby ,
…my Adept uses a Krime Boss modded with personalised grip and internal smartlink. Yeah only an accuracy of 6, however, using handload EXEX ups its base damage to 16, just one DV shy of a Panther Cannon but with burst fire capability to cut down that dodge pool. She affectionately calls it “Pink Cloud” as when she fires a 6 round burst on a called shot to the vitals, that is usually what occurs on the other end. Great intimidation weapon in the right hands.
Oh and that Remington 950, load it with handload APDS and -9 AP is not to shabby especially in the hands of a character with a decent pool and a total accuracy of 10 from mods. Works well for my cowgirl adept who can usually one shot most targets in non-hardened armour from a good distance.
…and it’s a “huntin’ rifle”.
U-Priest ,
In the defense of the Krime Happiness, while it’s off-the-market capabilties are pretty garbage, all you need to do is mod it a bit and you get something that has possibly more potential than most LMGs.
For starters, even after you mod it up to contend with a real LMG, it’s still WAY cheaper than a real LMG. Take the Happiness (500¥) and add on a Longbarrel (500¥), Personalized Grip (100¥), Folding Stock (30¥), Forgrip (100¥), and external Smartgun system (200¥), all of which adds up to 1450¥, less than a third of the Ingram Valiant, which is 5800¥.
Another benefit to this is that, as an assault rifle, attaching it to a vehicle or drone would only require a Standard Weapon Mount, meaning that you can easily slap two of these pups on a vehicle instead of only having one LMG.
Lastly, you wouldn’t need to spend building points or Karma in the Heavy Weapons skill to use the Happiness; all you need is the Automatics skill.
In conclusion, while it’s base is pretty lousy, the Krime Happiness’ potential is something you shouldn’t overlook. I would suggest this gun for anyone who wants to have a Squad automatic weapon that doesn’t want to spend too much in the Heavy Weapon skill, wants to keep on a budget, or wants to pack LMG-like guns on your car or rotodrone.
Adam ,
I hadn’t thought of the weapon mount thing for drones, that’s very true. I wouldn’t hook it up to ammo bins, since that would make the runaway firing glitch even worse, but it definitely makes it more of a contender.
Also, because of the runaway firing glitch, I wouldn’t trust drone AI to fire it, since I’d assume that they would have lower dice pools and be more prone to glitches than a jumped-in rigger. Still, that does give you some hefty firepower for cheap.
David ,
Simply amazing write up. I’m only disappointed the few guns in Cutting Aces didn’t make it, I was interested on your take on the new Fubuki would be like.
Adam ,
People keep reminding me that I haven’t written up the guns from Cutting Aces yet. That’s one of the few sourcebooks that I don’t actually own, though I’ve been meaning to get a copy. When I do I’ll add the new guns to the post.
Hopefully I’ll find time to do it sometime this week.
DPH ,
Really? The few guns in Cutting Aces hardly seem worth it. I mean, I’m a newer player who’s only ever played 5th Edition, so I’ll admit I guess I don’t get it, but what is so special about the Fubuki?
What about a write up on the CorpSec guns further down in Street Lethal, like the Hold-out disguised as a Comm-link and super awesome Ares M2 Machine gun? Unlike the stupid section of super OP guns we are told we really shouldn’t have, there’s nothing saying we CAN’T get a hold of those. They have prices and rarities to let us get them, even if they are stupid rare and expensive, but kind of plays that you have to kill some CorpSec to get them in the first place.
Or the truly AWESOME ammo in Kill Code? I WISH I had Fuzzy Boom Boom Bunnies in the past, it would have made so many missions so much easier.
Adam ,
I honestly don’t know what it is about the guns in Cutting Aces, but I’ve had multiple people both here and on Reddit ask me to review them recently, so I figured why not. The Fubuki I think is vastly overpriced for what it is, but the other light handgun from Aces is actually pretty decent, so they’re not terrible additions to the catalog I suppose. Just not sure why they keep coming up. Lots of people playing face characters, I guess.
Also, thank you for reminding me that I haven’t done the corpsec weapons from Street Lethal yet. That big machine gun is the best heavy weapon in the game right now, barring none–better even than any of the cannons. People deserve to know about that shit. The commlink pistol is yet another way of getting a gun through security, but one that’s a bit less versatile than something like a Puzzler. It doesn’t require the Armorer skill to put back together, though, so that’s still filling a definite niche.
As for Kill Code, I will admit that I haven’t looked into it fully yet (I’m playing a street sam type in my current game, haven’t done much with Matrix stuff lately). It looked like it had some really silly stuff in it though, and I’m eager to talk about them when I have time.
DPH ,
I guess, still the best two weapons were the pen pistol and cane sword in my opinion, cause I’m all about sneaking weapons in, and unlike the cane gun, its easier to hide a pen, and you don’t need to reload a sword. Still seems odd how the Fubuki got a fanbase.
You’re welcome, I’d love to see that massive machine gun that as recoil on a tripod added! 😛 Its a great gun when mounted on a vehicle though, like you said.
Yeah, Kill Code just might be the most tongue in cheek rulebook ever. I’m eager to see your reaction Kill Code, I’m sure its going to be a riot!
Adam ,
Just added a few guns from Cutting Aces. My take on the Fubuki specifically is that the Executive Action in Run & Gun is almost the same gun, but a lot cheaper.
DPH ,
I noticed another one missing, but it might be a case of who cares. The Winchester Model 2067 from Gun Heaven 3.
Also, if you want them, I bought some of the enhanced fiction books, and they have additional weapons and ammo at the end.
Adam ,
Huh. You’re right. I’m surprised I missed that one. Not a particularly good weapon, is it? Cheap, though, and you’re getting some pretty decent range for that price point. If you have almost no money and really need a sniping weapon, I could see this getting some brief use before you get something better. It’s main competitor in that category would be the Pioneer 60, which is cheaper but is also single-shot only instead of semi-auto (which is a surprise for something that the art makes look like a lever-action).
I only vaguely remember the enhanced fiction books. Is there a way to get just the gear from them?
DPH ,
The only reason I asked is cause a player of mine wanted to use it with pistol ammo based on comments in the book. We checked to see your take on it, and that’s when we noticed. I allowed it, but only with cased light pistol ammo. (Also, don’t knock lever guns, I’ve seen some guys at cowboy action shooters shoot them really fast, and on target.)
I don’t know, but like I said, I bought a few of them, so I can send you just the part of the PDFs with the gear to a Dropbox or email, whatever works for you. That way you don’t have the whole little novel to deal with.
Adam ,
I think I’d have gone with heavy pistol ammo, rather than light. From what I’ve seen, light pistols generally correspond to real-life 9mm and heavy pistols to real-live .45 or .40, and the real-life Winchester lever action that the Model 2067 is based on used .45. Definitely has to be cased ammo, I agree with that.
Dude if you could do that with those pdfs that’d be fantastic. My email is adam@carpeomnis.com, if you want to send them my way.
DPH ,
Well that’s why I went for light pistol actually, lot of 9mm carbines out there. Plus it does less damage than a Ruger Super Warhawk, so I declared it a light pistol caliber.
Of course! Its the least I can do for you after how helpful I’ve found your site and write over the last few months.
Critical glitch ,
It’s 2018 and you have kept this updated – my group and I greatly enjoy your list.
Thanks and Merry Christmas
Adam ,
Thanks! I know I’m missing a few things from here that I’m going to try to get to in 2019, but I’ve tried to keep it as up-to-date as I can.
Jens Heika ,
Are you going to include Tasers in any of your Armory posts?
Adam ,
I probably ought to, now that you mention it. There’s a lot less variety in tasers, but still some stuff worth discussing. I’ll see what I can do about writing something up for them.
U-Priest ,
The Hammerli 6205 is utterly pathetic by gun standards and unworthy of the praise it gets in-universe; it’s weak, its base accuracy is terrible by light gun standards, and has a 6 round clip. It has a gas vent system but that’s only useful for guns that can unload lots of bullets in quick succession, and the magazine capacity in this isn’t fit for rapid fire. It has a smartgun system, but it comes off as more a crutch for its petty accuracy, as well as makes it vulnerable to deckers bricking it. The only worth-while feature is its increased range, but with how weak it is and how few bullets it holds, it’s not worth anything. The chat part of the gun’s text mentions how users will use Stick & Shock or capsule rounds, but those are practically useless; with Stick & Shock, the damage is FAR too low to take most runners, and with capsule rounds, the range is always that of Light Pistols, no matter the range, so the minuscule capacity and mediocre accuracy is pointless. At that point, get either a taser or a small handgun (holdout, light pistol or Morrissey Elite) with capsule rounds. You’ll get more bang and millage than with the overpriced Hammerli 6205.
In my honest opinion, get the Nitama Sporter. It deals the same deal of damage, but it’s as accurate with just a laser sight (if you add on a smartgun, it’s then superior), has the same range, and has 3 times the magazine capacity. It may not have a gas-vent system, but seeing how the 6205 doesn’t need one with how few bullets it holds, it’s not anything the 6205 can really hold over it. The only thing that the 6205 can pride over the Sporter is that the 6205 is regarded as a “fashionable” gun, making it more acceptable to carry around in high-end locations… but that might also be because the everyone in security knows the 6205 is utterly useless in any shootout.
My advice: don’t waste your time with the 6205, unless you intentionally want to nerf yourself.
Adam ,
The 6205 struck me as a gun that isn’t actually meant to be fired. You’re supposed to buy it to complete a persona that you’re adopting as a con man, rather than as a weapon to actually use in a firefight.
In other words, I agree with everything you’ve said about the Sporter being better in a fight than the 6205, but I also want to add that if you’re expecting to actually use your pistol in combat then you should get something like a Savalette Guardian instead of either of those guns. If you’re a face, however, Hammerli’s little toy pistol does help you look the part.
U-Priest ,
Stats wise, I can see that, though I still feel it’s overpriced and the stuff it comes with is useless. However, in-universe, they treat it as an actual professional firearm, that bodyguards use this trash as a legit weapon. I do agree that the Savalette Guardian is a far superior weapon, but that has good stats and in-game lore that matches. The 6205 gets treated as a gun you WANT to have on you but the stats present a firearm that’s useless at being a firearm. Personally, I’d get a gun that’s near-undetectable by MAD sensors, conceal it well, and look like you’re unarmed. That way, you’re inconspicuous AND ready to start shooting.
Now, after some thinking, I found ONE possible use for the 6205: You get a Advanced safety system with the explosive self destruct option, keep the gun unloaded (or have some explosive rounds it so as to have a possible chain reaction), and leave it behind so that some poor dope picks it up. If you want more precision, you can advance your Con and Pocketing skills to try swapping a guard’s gun with yours and then get them to draw their gun (and entertainment ensues), and if you want versatility, get an armorer to jury-rig the self-destruct is instead wirelessly activated, turning it into a surprise remote explosive.
Adam ,
You know you hate a gun when your most useful plan for it is to turn it into a grenade.
Hyperversum ,
Really a nice post (which helped me a lot in deciding how to build my first pure “muscle” character), but I wanted to ask one thing because maybe I am wrong.
Regarding the Ares Sigma, another user said that the Ammo Skip could make it useful, but doesn’t it require a “underbarrel” space avaiable, which isn’t present on SMGs?
Adam ,
This is a problem caused by Catalyst’s infamously bad rules editing.
The 5e core book says that SMGs can take top- and barrel-mounted accessories. Seems pretty clear.
HOWEVER, Run & Gun introduces weapon *modifications*, which are different than accessories in that they’re way more involved to install. It also introduces side accessory slots, which aren’t mentioned in the core book at all, just to confuse things further. If we take the rules as written between the two books, no type of gun can install modifications on the side slots, because they aren’t listed as options on any weapon type in the core rulebook, so we already know we have to do some creative interpretation here. Furthermore, some of these “modifications” are written as though the book assumes you can normally attach underbarrel mods to SMGs (look at the underbarrel weapon mods, each of which specifically say they have to be on a rifle-sized weapon or larger). All this implies that the limitations on SMGs are meant for accessories, not mods.
All of the items in Hard Targets are listed as weapon modifications, not accessories. So presumably, ammo skip can be applied to an SMG. Or a revolver, since that’s clearly what it’s intended for.
That’s my interpretation of the rules, anyway. If your GM’s interpretation is different, I can’t really do anything about that, and frankly I understand completely. Figuring out Catalyst’s rules is sometimes like casting bones and trying to pull prophecy out of the runes they form.
Rykar ,
Side note- the Gatling Suppression rules in Street Lethal also apply to the Ares HVAR, making it the only Automatics weapon capable of extra-wide suppression, as well as the only such weapon available at chargen. Even more utility for it, aside from the fact that it still uses a proprietary blend of harsh language and spitballs for ammo.
Adam ,
I somehow missed that capability on the HVAR. That does make it a bit more useful, though the massive ammo consumption also makes it more difficult to use expensive high-damage ammo to compensate for the HVAR’s low caliber.
Rawr ,
I’ve personally found the Remington 950 to be able to pull its weight really well. The main selling point is its legality, which until recently is hard to match (The Blaser R11 Conqueror definitely gives it a run for its money though). But it makes cruising through border checkpoints much easier than with a heavier gun, especially if they are packing MAD scanners. Break it down, and it fits in a backpack and you can explain it away when just carrying it around.
Statistically if you have the dicepool to hit reliably, you are going to hit about as hard as an Alpha, which isnt too shabby. Definitely not the gun to use when you can bring whatever you want to the table, but it has its niche I feel.
Adam ,
I agree with everything you just said, with the caveat that I still prefer the Springfield M1A for the “legal hunting gun you can take through a checkpoint” role.
The 950’s big problem is that five-round internal magazine and the bolt-action single-shot mechanism, both of which are solved by the M1A. Springfield’s hunting rifle doesn’t have as much armor penetration, unfortunately, and has one less accuracy, but it also has a 20-round box magazine feeding a semi-automatic receiver, and a price tag that’s 400 nuyen less than the Remington. Plus it comes with a complimentary scope that would otherwise run you a cool thousand nuyen all by itself, which is a very nice touch.
Rawr ,
There are some notable things though, with the Springfield M1A that makes it a sidegrade to the 950, not an upgrade.
Couple notes:
– 5 round magazine is actually pretty big. That will last you for 5 Initiative passes, and if you have gear access and 5 AGI, you can fully reload it with a simple action while still having another simple to shoot, so you never actually miss out on an attack. It uses an internal clip, instead of a magazine.
– SA imparts a -2 dodge penalty, but the progressive recoil will add up. The difference between the two rifles is really, -2 dodge penalty, or -3 more AP. In addition, its a simple to fire a bolt action, as opposed to a complex for a semi auto triple tap, so its definitely a trade off.
– The 950 also comes with a scope, and has a longer range.
Overall I would put those rifles side by side. Semi auto vs heavier hitting power.
Adam ,
You make a lot of very good points. Especially with the gear access reload, which I hadn’t considered–I was assuming that the 950 would take longer to reload, but with that armor upgrade included the gun gets a lot better. Pass the gear access upgrade off as a hunting vest and you’re good to go.
Rawr ,
^^
Tbf the closest competitor the 950 has is the Blaser R11 Conqueror from Datapulse 2080, which is an AMAZING civilian rifle. It costs 8.5k nuyen, but is worth every penny.
You should check out the guns in datapuls 2080. A lot of then are cool.
Adam ,
I just looked up Datapuls 2080, and unfortunately it looks like it’s in German, which I can’t read. I’ll write them up if I find someone willing to provide me with a translation.
Blightspreader ,
Hey, Adam, I just had a quick question for you. Do you have any plans to give your opinions on the melee weapons of the SR universe, or do you generally shun the usage of melee weapons, above just keeping them as a last-ditch?
Adam ,
There’s actually a bit of a story behind that. I avoided writing up a post on melee weapons because I was, for a while, writing a book for Catalyst Labs expanding the melee weapon options in fifth edition. It was supposed to be a PDF-only supplement similar to the Gun H(e)aven books, and had a bunch of new items and a modding system for melee weapons. My plan was to write a melee weapons post when that was published, so I could celebrate my official contribution to this game that I love and also take the weapons and mods that I’d created into account when writing it.
And then the guy I was working with at Catalyst got laid off, and no one told me until I ran into him at a convention months later and asked why he hadn’t been replying to my emails. And after that, no one else at Catalyst has ever responded to me when I’ve reached out to them to ask about the project. At this point it’s been years, and sixth edition just launched, so I think my little fifth edition project for them is pretty much officially dead.
So now that you mention it, yeah, I should probably get around to writing that melee weapons post…
Sagittarius ,
Man, about the Thundestruck Gauss Rifle – considering gauss ammunition can really surpass any other kind of bullet propellance, and you actually CAN put a 20 round clip on it, wouldn’t it be way better to use it as a sniper rifle? Also, what’s your opinion about the Puncher Weapons on Street Lethal? Would they be better than the Gauss Rifle?
I’m thinking about this comment because I’m looking forward to be the best assassin I can, so I’m considering using the Thunderstruck or the Puncher Weapons as my personal favorite.
Adam ,
Using the Thunderstruck as a sniper rifle definitely has potential, but if you’re going for an anti-material sniper I’d personally prefer the Terracotta Arms AM-47, mostly because of the ability to use other ammo types. If you want the Thunderstruck’s armor penetration, you can get that with the AM-47 and APDS–or you can go ex-ex and bump up the damage, or load silver bullets, or depleted uranium, or whatever else. Plus if you have Longarms you have a delightful variety of shotguns available as well, some of which can be concealed, for backup firepower. The Heavy Weapons skill doesn’t give you a huge amount of alternates if you’re somewhere that you can’t carry your main piece around.
As for the Puncher weapons, I’ll admit I hadn’t looked at that section of Street Lethal that much because you can’t really buy the stuff there. Looking at them now, I think these are way more specialized than you might be thinking. The armor penetration is absolutely hilarious, but I don’t like the low damage and single-shot only on everything but the minigun. Can’t do those bullseye double-tap called shots with that (not that you need them with that armor penetration, actually, so maybe that’s not really a point against them now that I think about it). The real thing that kills them as a sniper weapon, though, is the special range table–the long range on even the Puncher Long Rifle, the longest-range variety, only reaches as far as the short range increment on a sniper rifle. You can reach a lot further at extreme range, yes, but when a sniper rifle can take shots at most reasonable engagement ranges with much lower range penalties then I start to question why you have the overpenetration weapon. Maybe if you take the Hawk Eye perk and also pick up an improved range finder–that’d cut the penalties to a reasonable point, I think.
I’d absolutely love one of these things against a spirit or supersoldier with hardened armor. Just remember that while the armor penetration is absurd, that damage means you’re probably not going to be able to one-shot anything unless you get a lot of net hits. Try to get an unreasonable amount of dice on your shooting rolls.
kyennzeratul ,
So, if I use a Terracota with Depleted Uranium that should be enough for most sniper assassination runs?
Adam ,
Oh yeah, definitely. The trick will be getting into position with the AM-47. You probably want to put a breakdown mod on it, because it’s an enormous gun that’s impossible to hide otherwise.
Adam ,
The more I think about it, the funnier a Puncher sniper sounds. If your GM lets you have one, try it out. Just remember that you’ll be getting a lot of range penalties from that custom range table.
kyennzeratul ,
Not that I found it overwhelming, I just found its exceeding range attractive. Even for an ordinary sniper, 1500m sounds a bit too little. If I could amplify Terracota’s range, it should suffice.
Sagittarius ,
Just in case: don’t you guys find it weird Ranged Combat rules don’t talk about what happens when you manage to do – let’s say as an example – 5-6P to the Vitals? I guess it takes a really bulky trool to survive a sniper round to the head, considering real life ballistics.
Imo, if I GM’d a session where something like that happened, the target would be toast. Specially considering some snipers’ burst fire.
Adam ,
If a shot does 5-6P damage, then it probably didn’t exactly hit the vitals, even if that’s what you’re aiming at. Or it didn’t really get through the armor. Make the fluff justify the mechanics, not the other way around–the damage is the damage, and where you’re aiming doesn’t change what I say happened if you didn’t actually deal that much.
Sagittarius ,
Dude, what kind of accessories/modifications would you put in a Auto Assault 16?
Adam ,
Ah sorry, missed this comment somehow until just now. Not sure how that happened.
The AA-16 is honestly a really good gun right out of the box. A lot of the changes you can make to it are situational stuff, depending on what you want to use it for, but there are a few that I’d recommend for anyone.
Most of what it needs is accuracy aids–even a halfway decent shooter can max out an accuracy of 4 on a lucky roll. Give it a smartgun system, probably external because that’s cheaper and it doesn’t really need any other mounted attachments. A shock pad brings the recoil compensation up to 3 for only 50 nuyen, which is enough to cut the recoil from short bursts. Normally with a heavy combat weapon I’d recommend a foregrip as a cheap way of getting more recoil comp, but the AA-16 can use a drum magazine, which means I have to recommend an ammo skip system (from Hard Targets) for the underbarrel slot, because that adds a ton of versatility to your gun. Also from Hard Targets, a personalized grip is another cheap way to improve accuracy.
The rest of the stuff I’d think about depends on what you want to use it for. If it’s an assault weapon for only the loudest of missions, get extended clips to bring the ammo drum up to 48 rounds (at the cost of concealment) and install gas venting so you can completely cancel the recoil from long bursts. If you want something heavy that you might still be able to pull out of a gym bag, then saw off the barrel (Hard Targets) and consider replacing the stock with a folding variant.
Andre Michael Pietroschek ,
I appreciated the list. Thank you!
One of my Shadowrun-fancraze audio freebies, if anyone likes (“but it is from a mage perspective): https://www.spreaker.com/user/11246871/audiostory-familyaffairs-narratordavid
JBT ,
Hey, great right up. I agree that the Remington Suppressor is awesome. My last character carried two as his pistols.
Krime Katalog has 5th stats, but a bitch to figure out what weapon category it belongs.
The melee right up and your now defunct pdf would be cool to see. I would pay for unofficial Shadowrun 5th ed melee book.
Adam ,
I’m going to do that at some point, but maybe not super soon. I mainly write updates to this set of posts while I’m playing Shadowrun, and while I’m currently playing in two different RPG campaigns neither of them are Shadowrun.
Michael ,
Great write-up, and still worth another read in 2021.
One weapon missing in your list is basically my most favorite SMG, the German HK MP75, which was published in one of the German-only sourcebooks. It’s a SMG, but would also fit into that (in my opinion horrible) carbine section since it uses AR ammo, but SMG ranges. Would you mind adding your thoughts about this little beast to your overview?
Michael ,
Still a great read in late 2021. Would you mind adding a comment on my favorite SMG, the HK MP75?
Adam ,
Just realized I’d never hit the “approve” button on your previous comment in my moderation queue, sorry about that.
I don’t know German, so it’s hard for me to offer commentary on the German-only sourcebooks. That said, I’d assume that an SMG that uses AR ammo would be hard-hitting, and would be a great pick for an automatics gunslinger for a concealed piece, since you don’t have to buy separate machine pistol or SMG ammo and can just consolidate everything into a stash of AR rounds.
Michael ,
Unfortunately I don’t own that sourcebook, as those are rare and getting pretty expensive nowadays. However, I could try to add a desctiption based on the picture and stats while trying to mirroring your style. Alternatively, just take away what you need from my thoughts below.
I think we can agree the HK MP75 is hitting hard for an SMG. It comes with similar built-in accessory like the Ingram Smartgun, (Smartgun internal, Gas Vent II) while also mounting an advanced security system. In addition to this, the HK is able to support all 3 fire modes, has a higher base precision and only costs 200 more than the Ingram. However, it’s illegal as hell, so you should better hide this thing. Basically this thing is like the stepchild of the Praetor and the Ingram Smartgun, taking away the best of both while using your AR ammo.
Lazarus Decanus ,
What would be your personal choice of weapons and augs for a solid and versatile Street Sam? I’m a real newb and I’m trying a “one size fits all” approach for a combat assassin, and I’m still building my sheet. Based on your analysis I’m picking an Ares Alpha, a PPSK-4 Collapsible Machine Pistol and MAYBE a melee weapon (open to suggestions), but I’m planning to expend a hefty amount of my starting 450k into augs.
My plan is to make a shadowrun variant of a “Garrus Vakarian” mercenary, going into a solid stealthy approach.
Adam ,
Oh man, for some reason I stopped getting emails whenever someone commented on my blog, I have a lot of backlog here…
You’ve probably built your character already at this point, but the absolute most basic augs that you’re going to want are the best wired reflexes that you can afford. Beyond that, muscle replacement gets you a lot of bang for your buck, especially if you want to use a melee weapon as well (it boosts both Strength and Agility, and you’ll want both). Cybereyes are also a must, you can get contacts or glasses instead but it’s nice to have a smartlink to your gun built directly into your eyes. Beyond that its dealer’s choice–I know some people who swear by cyberarms with lots of weird tools slotted into them, some people like bizarre poison applicators or auto-injecting drug ampules, there’s all sorts of directions you can go. For stealth assassin gear maybe consider implanted weapons or a smuggling compartment built into your leg so you can sneak a gun past scanners.