The best pistol

 

 

The Pistol Guide

 

 

 

EDIT:
This is an outdated version of the guide, you can find the new version here:
https://tarkovballistics.blogspot.com/2021/01/tarkov-pistol-guide.html

Soviet World War Two pistols

Currently the only pistol in Tarkov that predates World War Two is the Tokarev TT. It fires the 7.62x25 cartridge which was developed alongside the pistol and it was the service pistols of the Soviet Army in World War Two. While somewhat antiquated in magazine size, its high velocity caliber and very flat trajectory it was the armor-piercing pistol of its time.

Soviet Cold-War pistols

These share the same 9x18 cartridge, which offers medium damage agains unarmored targets. Being a mid 20th century cartridge, the armor-piercing capability of it is limited.

The selection of pistols covers a wide range of applications, from small capacity service pistols to large capacity select-fire machinepistols. Various suppressor options for covert action is available. The strong point being that is is very cheap to equip a suppressor with this selection of pistols.

• Stechkin APS
  A Soviet select-fire machine pistol chambered for 9x18.

 

• Stechkin APB
  Suppressed variant with detachable suppressor of the APS.

 

 

• Makarov PM
  Soviet 9x18 pistol, replaced the TT as a service weapon in the 1950s. Low-power caliber with limited 8-round magazine. The (t) variant has an extended barrel for attachment of suppressors.

 

• Makarov PB
  Integrally suppressed variant of the Makarov pistol. Weapon can not be fired with suppressor detached.

Wonder-Nines

 

 

Wonder-Nines are what is considered modern 9x19 pistols that started appearing in the 1980s. Their common features are 9x19 cartridge and large magazines. In Tarkov, these are the Glock 17, Glock 18c, Beretta M9A3 and Grach.

• The firepower of the 9x19 is higher than the 9x18. With some ammo types reaching into the mid-twenties in penetration power. The ideal targets are armor classes 3 and below. Class 4 is virtually impenetrable.

• As far as combat performance is concerned, these are interchangeable and the differences are cosmetic. They all share very similar accuracy and magazine sizes. With the Grach being inexplicably twice as incaccurate as the other pistols, and the Glock having more magazine size variants.

• MP-443 Grach
  The service pistol of the Russian Army. Chambered for 9x19.

• Glock 17
  9x19 pistol designed for the Austrian Army

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• Glock 18c
  9x19 select-fire machine pistol, with a 1200 RPM firerate on full auto.

• Beretta M9A3
  The Beretta 92 (manufacturer's designation) was the standard-issue pistol of the US army since the 1980s.

 

 

• P226R
  A 9x19 pistol manufactured by Sig Sauer.

 

Modern Armor-Piercing Pistols  

These systems were developed towards the end of the 20th century to increase the armor penetration of pistols to overcome the increased appearance of body armor on the battlefield. In Tarkov, there are very diverse pistols to fullfill this concept.

In Tarkov, two cartridges, the 5.7x28 and 9x21 are available. The first is a high velocity round, developed for modern "PDW" weapons with the intent to fill the gap between submachineguns and assault rifles. The 9x21 is different as it uses heavy large caliber projectiles instead of high velocity to reach the same target of higher armor penetration.

Both weapons extend the armor-piercing capabilities farther than 9x19 cartridges.

• SR-1 MP
  Russian pistol, developed for armor-piercing 9x21 pistol caliber.

• Five-Seven
  Belgian pistol, developed for armor-piercing 5.7x28.

Accuracy

Weapon accuracy is displayed as a fraction number for weapons in the stats screen. The lower the number, the more accurate the weapon. Accuracy describes a cone around the aimpoint that expands with distance and also curves with it.

Accuracy does not include bullet drop caused by gravity, so two weapons with very similar accuracy but with different muzzle velocities will have different trajectories.

Pistol accuracy ranges approximately between 0.2 and 0.6. These internal numbers we converted in our MOA sheet to

1 Minute of Angle (MOA) = 291mm dispersion at 100 meters = 0.0137 accuracy

So if a weapon has an accuracy of 1 MOA, it would hit an area the size of 291mm at 100 meters. Only the DVL-10 can deliver this accuracy in EFT. Weapons with this extreme accuracy have "sub-moa performance".

The accuracy of pistols is considerably lower, 15 to 45 MOA.

This is the accuracy of all pistols in EFT with their internal accuracy.

Accuracy converted into dispersion at 50 meters. The head and torso lines determine wether a pistol would hit the target with 100% probability when aiming for the center of the shape. Almost every pistol has a 100% chance to hit the torso, but no pistols is accurate enough for a certain hit on the head.

At 100 meters all pistols lose their ability to hit the head or the torso.

Tactical considerations for pistol accuracy

• In a firefight at 50 meters, pistols can deliver accurate center of mass shots, headshots are not 100% but possible. They can survive a firefight at this distance against better armed targets, with accurate shot placements.

• At 100 meters, pistols would still likely hit some part of the target, but center of mass shots become unlikely and headshots very unlikely. In turn, a target wearing a helmet and a light armor vest is nearly impervious to lethal one-shot kills from pistols.

Ammo Performance

How to read this chart: Ammo towards the top-right is better, because it is harder and has more damage, while the lower-left is worse. Anything falling left of the dotted line is harder ammo that loses damage. Anything falling right of the dotted line is softer ammo that has increased damage.

So following the graph we can see that the 9x18 and 7.62x25 group on the slightly off-center left, in the lower left quadrant of the graph, making them objectively "worse" than the remaining three calibers. However keep in mind these are averages, Both calibers have hard-hitting ammo types, however the high amount of soft ammo selections drags the average to soft. So it is always good to take a detailed look at each ammo type.


The 9x19 shows a firm drift towards the soft half, however with increased elevation along the dotted line. Indicating its modern ammo types that improve this ammo type created in 1908.

The 9x21 and 5.7x28 can be seen as sister calibers with similar capabilities and design intentions. They both have very hard-hitting ammo types, with the 5.7x28 having a variety of softer rounds shifting its average towards the soft line.